United Airlines endured more than its fair share of scandals last week. But the airline is hoping to move on from the one that brought it the most amount of unwanted attention: Dr. David Dao's forceful removal from an overbooked flight.
Scorpions, dress codes, and sexual harassment from intoxicated passengers aren't addressed in United's latest policy changes, but baby steps first, right?
Hello Giggles reports that the airline will now require crew to book must-ride flights at least an hour before scheduled departure. That way, there's more of a chance that staffers have done all that they can to alleviate an overbooked flight, whether that's by offering a different route (and a slew of perks) to passengers who volunteer to give up their seats or by some other means of airplane musical chairs. Since passengers shuffling their seats by themselves has proved to be a problem for United, this new change may help out on more than one front.
"The safety and well-being of our passengers is the highest priority for United pilots, and this should not have escalated into a violent encounter. United pilots are infuriated by this event," the United Master Executive Council wrote in a statement.
United spokesperson Maggie Schmerin said that the new policy, which was announced via email on Sunday, is just the first major move on the schedule for the airline. Cosmopolitan adds that the airline is looking into additional changes to make sure that what occurred with Dr. Dao doesn't happen again. There's no mention of how the airline will deal with sexist, outdated dress codes or incidents of sexual harassment and intoxicated passengers, but United's changes should address the PR maelstrom surrounding the airline. There's probably nothing it can do about stowaway scorpions, however.
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