Logo

As United Airlines Struggles With a PR Disaster, It Turns Out That Just Last Month Its CEO Was Named ‘Communicator of the Year’ by PR Week

Apr 12, 2017  •  Post A Comment

Amid a public relations disaster that has caused both the image and the market value of United Airlines to plummet, an interesting tidbit that surfaced is that Oscar Munoz, the company’s CEO — who has been harshly criticized for his initial response to the incident — was recently named Communicator of the Year for 2017 by PR Week.

Munoz initially spoke out in support of aviation officers who forcibly removed a passenger from an overbooked United flight Sunday, but then shifted his position after a blitz of damaging publicity and social media outrage. As we reported Tuesday, Munoz has now come out and called the incident a “horrific event” and has vowed to “fix what’s broken so this never happens again.”

Those comments reflected a shift in position from hours earlier, when he called the passenger who was removed from the plane “disruptive and belligerent” and said he “emphatically” stood behind United personnel who were involved in the incident, saying they went “above and beyond.”

In its piece honoring Munoz last month, PR Week wrote: “Munoz has shown himself to be a smart, dedicated, and excellent leader who understands the value of communications. His ability to connect and share with employees his vision for the airline, and get them to rally behind it, is a key reason PRWeek named him 2017 Communicator of the Year.”

The New York Times notes: “The passenger, Dr. David Dao, was identified late Tuesday in a statement from his lawyers, who said he was undergoing treatment in a Chicago-area hospital for his injuries. Some videos had showed him with a bloody face.”

The Times also reports: “On social media, the firestorm swept around the world. Chinese social media users accused United, which does a lot of business in the country, of racism by targeting Dr. Dao, who appeared to be Asian. In the United States, customers showed pictures of their United loyalty or credit cards cut into pieces. And lawmakers called for an investigation.”

Video of Dao’s forceful removal from the plane can be seen by clicking here.

One Comment

  1. United should have offered Dr. David Dao a seat in first class. United would be glad to have Dr. Dao on the flight, if one of the other passengers became sick in-flight.

    If a first-class seat wasn’t available, United should have offered Dr. Dao a set on another flight—-even if United had to pay for A SEAT ON ANOTHER AIRLINE for Dr. Dao to reach his destination on time. There are many airlines flying out of Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, and Chicago also has three or four other airports with other airlines.

    United Airlines just communicated that they will abuse their customers, because they were stupid enough to overbook a flight, without the ability to serve all their paying customers. Where’s the good customer service on United Airlines?

Your Comment

Email (will not be published)