In the aftermath of the recent United Airlines debacle, the company has come under all sorts of fire: their stock has plummeted, and social media is filled with people describing their own unpleasant experiences with the airline. Even New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie unloaded on the airline, slamming their attitude as “awful” and calling on the Trump administration to do something about it.
Videos of passenger David Dao being forcibly removed from an overbooked flight have sparked outrage and forced an apology out of United CEO Oscar Munoz, who had previously tried to defend the company. However, United has a long history of less-than-favorable press. One woman fell asleep on a United flight and the flight crew left her on the plane for 4 hours. Another person was sued by the company for making a site that helps people find cheaper flight tickets. In light of the issue with Dao, this represents a major attitude problem for the airline.
70 percent of the flights out of Newark are united, so as governor of New Jersey, Christie a unique perspective on the issue. Yesterday he sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, saying that his state is looking into action to prevent the “abusive practice” of overbooking and requesting that the Trump administration suspend the airline’s ability to do so. Until that happens, Christie said that United can still capitalize on the fact that people have no choice but to fly United in certain places, such as Newark.
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