United Airlines has a long history of infuriating customers — here are its worst customer service incidents (UAL)
Seth Wenig / AP Photo
- United Airlines has dealt with a large number of highly-publicized customer service incidents over the past few years.
- The airline has hurt customers, threatened them, and mishandled their pets.
- While it appeared the United had recovered from the April 2017 incident when it dragged a passenger off an overbooked flight, two pet-related incidents this week started a new round of controversy.
United Airlines can't seem to stop shooting itself in the foot.
After it seemed like the airline had recovered from the backlash to the infamous April 2017 incident when it dragged a customer off an overbooked flight, the airline proceeded to kill a passenger's dog and send another pet dog to the wrong destination this week. The former caused some customers to call for a boycott of the airline.
Over the past few years, the airline has had a number of customer service problems that have kept it in the news for the wrong reasons. Whether it's hurting customers, threatening them, or mishandling their pets, United can't seem to avoid controversy.
Airline expert George Hobica said the company's problems start at the top.
"It's a top-down culture, meaning, the CEO and other leaders set the atmosphere for the rest of the employees," he told Business Insider. "The leadership has been pretty abysmal."
Both Hobica and Charles Leocha, president of the airline passenger advocacy group Travelers United, think the company's leadership has created a culture where employees are treated poorly, which leads to bad customer service.
"If they treat their airline employees well, then the airline employees will treat the customers better," Leocha told Business Insider. "And United, historically, has had a problem in terms of employee management issues. And I think that it shows."
Here are 12 of the airline's worst customer service moments.
When it dragged a passenger off a plane
Facebook/Audra Dickerson
The infamous April 2017 incident in which a United passenger was forcibly dragged off an overbooked flight resulted in significant damage to the airline's reputation. United then made matters worse with what many believed was an insensitive response to the incident which included a publicly-released company report that called the passenger "disruptive" and "belligerent."
Munoz issued a second apology after the backlash from the first.
"No one should ever be mistreated this way," he said. "I want you to know that we take full responsibility and we will work to make it right."
The airline eventually settled with the passenger after he sued the airline.
When it killed a dog
AP
On Tuesday, United admitted that a passenger's 10-month-old puppy suffocated and died in the overhead compartment on one of its flights. Another passenger alleged on Facebook that a flight attendant forced the owner to stow the dog in the overhead bin, despite the fact that she was transporting it in a TSA-approved dog carrier.
"This was a tragic accident that should never have occurred, as pets should never be placed in the overhead bin," the airline said in response to the incident. "We assume full responsibility for this tragedy and express our deepest condolences to the family and are committed to supporting them."
United isn't the only airline that's struggled with how to handle pets on its flights, but much of the airline industry's recent, pet-related controversy has centered on emotional support animals, which don't have to be transported in a special carrier. There are no indications that the puppy was an emotional support animal.
When it accidentally flew a dog to Japan
Julio Cortez / AP
United announced another dog-related incident on Wednesday, as the airline said it was investigating how a Kansas City-bound family's dog was accidentally flown to Japan. When the family arrived in Kansas City, it was given another passenger's dog, which was supposed to have been flown to Japan. The airline said the family's dog was placed on a flight from Japan to Kansas City.
"An error occurred during connections in Denver for two pets sent to the wrong destinations," United told Kansas City's KCTV after the incident. "We apologize for this mistake and are following up with the vendor kennel where they were kept overnight to understand what happened."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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