Video reveals yet more ill-treatment of passengers by United Airlines
15 Jun 2017
In yet another embarrassment for United Airlines, another video has surfaced that appears to show a confrontation involving one of the carrier's passengers.
That latest video was shot two years ago, but it surfaced this week after the passenger filed a $1-million lawsuit against United for actions in the video.
The video only adds to United's troubles, two months after the passenger-dragging incident with passenger Dr David Dao, plunging the company into a global public relations crisis in April (See: Shock wave over United Airlines' violent 'bumping' of passenger).
According to commentators, the episode had served to focus attention on United and other airlines for how passengers were treated amid what many believed was an increasingly hectic and stressful flying experience.
In the month the viral video showed Dr Dao being dragged by UA employees, complaints against airlines in the US shot 70 per cent. The incident left Dao with a broken nose, a concussion and loss of two teeth.
The attorneys of United and Dao reached a settlement over the incident but both sides declined to disclose the terms.
Founder of the passenger rights group, Paul Hudson, said the Dao incident might have emboldened passengers to speak out about how they were being treated by airlines.
''A lot of people have realized that things are bad and that they can complain about it,'' said Hudson, whose group boasts over 60,000 members.
Also, a US Department of Transportation report yesterday showed that 1,909 complaints were filed in April against airlines flying in the US, up from 1,123 complaints in the same month last year.
Although flight delays and cancellations increased somewhat in April, the most likely cause of the surge in complaints was the public reaction to the bloody incident of 9 April that focused on the treatment of passengers by the nation's airlines, according to commentators.
The attorneys of United and Dao reached a settlement over the incident but both sides declined to disclose the terms.
