Four months into 2017, United Airlines has borne the brunt of countless frightening headlines. They’ve come under fire for denying passengers entry for wearing leggings and there was also that time a pilot terrified passengers over the loudspeaker. Possibly the most disturbing episode in the Fly the Friendly Skies Saga: that time they left a passenger, David Dao, bloodied after violently removing him from a flight.
Needless to say, United is now in “fix-it” mode. And according to Travel + Leisure, the airline is now offering “apology fares.”
In an interview with Scott Keyes, the founder of Scott’s Cheap Flights, Keyes highlighted the David Dao incident as a trigger for the recent drop in flights abroad.
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“Since the incident on United 3411, there’s been a noticeable drop in United’s fares,” he told Travel + Leisure.
“I’m not privy to United’s internal numbers,” joked Keyes, “but whatever drop in bookings they were seeing must have scared theme enough to slash prices.”
Prices have dropped significantly in less than two weeks. Those hefty discounts include: “round-trip flights to Trinidad and Tobago for as little as $274 (typically $550); flights to Paris for $433 (typically $800); and round-trip fares to Mexico City for less than $200 (typically $500),” as noted by the site.
Flights to Sweden from major cities on both coasts have also been largely discounted.
In lieu of reportedly making a few changes, United also announced that its removal policy has changed. Passengers can no longer be bumped from a flight after they’ve boarded it. Baby steps.
Will this move improve a period of terrible press? Who knows. At least their approval ratings are higher than Donald Trump’s. Then again, news broke today that the airline is investigating the death of a giant rabbit aboard one of its trans-Atlantic flights. And that can’t be good.
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