More than apt commentary in The Guardian (with video) on United Airline's outrageous conduct so widely reported around the world....
It
has become apparent that America’s airlines, much like America’s
president, have absolutely no shame. They seem to care only about profit
and treat the people they supposedly serve like chattel, cattle or
criminals.
This week’s installment of airlines reaching new lows is brought to you by United – you know, the people who spend tens of millions of dollars on
fancy adverts urging you to “Fly the Friendly Skies”, while seemingly
going out of their way to make the skies as unfriendly as possible.
The story has been everywhere over the last 24 hours and you’ve probably seen the graphic video.
United overbooked a flight and, having only realized this after the
flight had boarded, tried to force a few randomly selected passengers
off. One man refused to vacate the seat he paid for and, thus, had a
reasonable expectation of sitting in. Security officers dragged the
69-year-old grandfather off the plane screaming. This was all caught on
video and went viral.
You’d
think that United might have balked at this PR disaster and issued a
groveling apology. Particularly as the incident comes hot on the heels
of last month’s controversy around United denying boarding to two
teenage girls because they were wearing leggings. But no.
The furore was followed by perhaps the most half-assed sorry-not-sorry in
the history of corporate apologies, with United Airlines CEO Oscar
Munoz expressing regret for “having to re-accommodate these customers”.
Yes, that’s right, they translated “dragged a man out of a plane
screaming” into “re-accommodate”.
Somewhere,
in the depths of United HQ, there is a team of copywriters tasked with
systematically wringing any actual meaning out of the English language
and transforming it into hollow, hyphenated platitudes.
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