West Coast
This is not an issue of airline/passenger rights but a customer service issue plain and simple. As one with extensive experience in
PR I would like to offer a few thoughts.
No matter how you slice it this is a
PR disaster of epic proportions for United. Even if as you have argued everything could be justified from a legal and airline perspective this is not how it is perceived. Several factors are worth focusing on.
Firstly we have the treatment of the passenger which will be seen as unnecessarily brutal. Whilst it was the Chicago police who were responsible for the violence it was United that enabled it. United will be blamed for the violence.
Secondly we have the fact that his stated profession is a doctor with patients to see. Most will perceive this as over-riding any crew rights to travel in his place. We must also note that almost every paying passenger will expect to get priority over flight crew whether dead heading or not unless offered a serious amount of compensation.
Thirdly, the airline industry is a customer service industry and this incident has put a huge dent in that perception. The treatment of legitimate passengers in this way will be seen as an overbearing and uncaring corporation reneging on its commitments.
Finally the response by United has been poor to say the least. Munoz's letter fails to address the incident in a way that shows an appreciation of its seriousness and instead goes some way to exacerbating the 'them and us' situation. US airlines already have a low reputation for customer service and this incident will not help.
In this set of circumstances the airline can only be 'wrong' and will never be 'right'. The only thing an airline can do is be apologetic and institute measures to make sure that such an incident never happens again. Offering the passenger very generous compensation and a public apology also needs to happen. There is no other course of action.