Here's a good post mortem by an attorney on the brutal "deplaning" (which idiot invented this word??) of Dr. Dao by United Express in Chicago:
WHAT UNITED AIRLINES TEACHES BUSINESS OWNERS ABOUT CRISIS CONTROL: What 'Not' To Do.
United had a problem. Regrettably, they kept making it worse and now have become a great model for businesses everywhere; a teaching example of what not to do. What happened to them was no surprise because they did nothing other airlines may do. How they did it, however, and then followed it up, makes for a great learning opportunity for entrepreneurs worldwide. Sooner or later, every business has a crisis; how it handles it will determine its success or demise. For the sake of organization, let's examine this situation numerically:
TRY TO RESOLVE IT WITH SOMETHING THAT COMES EASILY TO YOU BUT YOUR CUSTOMER VALUES. Four staff members required a flight at the last moment. United was able to offer incentives to three seat holders but not a fourth. First mistake. The staff knew that the only option available was to forcibly remove the passenger, 69-year-old Dr David Dao. Even if it did not end up on social media, the passenger could have made a scene or any one of a number of things could have happened to make it more colorful an event than United would want. It would have been so much easier to put their own staff member on another airline or hire someone to replace the person. They could even have a policy in place to prevent last minute shifting of staff at passengers' expense.
It would have cost United very little to up the offer and make any excess miles (ie more than they would regularly offer) on a standby basis. Second, they could have offered enough miles or flight credits to all the passengers and sooner or later they would find a taker. That is certainly cheaper than either losing a client's business or losing the business of 80% of the passengers onboard witnessing an involuntary removal.
AVOID CALLING THE POLICE (of any kind) FOR A NON-CRIMINAL INCIDENT. The police should 'not' have been called. That was a huge mistake. At this stage, they created a common divide and there was no way to ever patch the relationship with the passenger again, and that's just the beginning of the end. The possibility of negotiating with Dr Dao now is less than 1%. There is always in negotiation what we call 'the point of no return'. Calling the police in a case like this only alienates a customer/passenger even more and reinforces the fact that the two parties are on opposite sides of the table.
With the police there, other troubles can occur. A person may flail their arms and unintentionally touch the policeman, and get charged criminally for assault on a police officer. In fact, by manhandling him and breaking his nose, the police showed us that they came with their 'tough guy' mentality and were going to do whatever it took to remove the passenger. They did, and here we are.
In this case, United should have had a senior representative talk to Dr Dao or offer something to other passengers. After all, this was a flight, not an MMA event and the passenger was not a problem to United until they kicked him out of his seat because fine print the public is not aware of allows them to.
SHOW THEM WHO THE MANAGEMENT REALLY IS, AND DEMONSTRATE COMPASSION FOR THE SITUATION. When this story made it to social media, the first response from the CEO would be an instant public apology. The public needs to think of him as a nice, warm individual who just had the bad luck of hiring someone as inept as the person who made this decision, and those on the ground who supported it. Every company has bad luck with employees from time to time. Unfortunately, the CEO or president is held responsible. Instead of apologizing to the elder Dr Doa , Mr Munoz apologizes for having to "re-accommodate these customers". By doing so, he alienated Dr. Dao and loyal customers.
The first question is: Is he ignoring Dr Dao? The other three had no problem with this, so why is he using the plural form? Is he ignoring Dr Dao, or is he grouping him with the rest, as in 'no big deal'?
YOU MAY LOYALLY STAND BEHIND YOUR STAFF BUT NOT WHEN THEY ARE IN THE WRONG. The CEO, after the event, stated to his staff "I want to commend you for continuing to go above and beyond to ensure we fly right". That sends the wrong message to the staff. Even at the point that Dr Dao was being dragged off forcefully, we are not aware that a single United staff member stepped in to keep the situation under control or make it more human; they all watched and enjoyed their newfound powers the CEO endorsed. Either the CEO does not care for United Airlines' stock or has a police officer mentality; neither support what he is being paid to do.
In this situation, the CEO should have explained to his front-end staff that they should follow protocol and offer the amounts the airline should have offered for the seat and if it took a bit more to avoid dragging someone off, that should have been done before the police were called. This is clearly the opposite of what Mr Munoz stated: it is not going above and beyond, it is going down and below, into the abyss, where the airline is flying now.
DO NOT ANGER A CUSTOMER AND THEN ACCUSE HIM OR HER WITH BEING BELIGIRENT. This is a common tactic used by the police to arrest persons. Something happens that would affect someone emotionally, the person gets upset, and they are blamed for being upset. Oscar Munoz, instead of apologizing to Dr Dao, decided to use the same tactic that litigators use all the time in court...get a witness upset and then use their reactions to show how unreasonable they are. Additionally, he used the standard response in a rape case...if you may have committed the offense, show how bad she was. Instead of dealing with his staff's bad decisions and their consequences, he chose to find fault with Dr Dao. At this point, he just lost his own credibility. His inherent narcissistic tendencies demonstrate to the public that even if a video show what is horrific behavior on the part of United's decisions, his only concern is that he is right and Dr Dao brought this on himself. What is even frightening to United passengers is that if this video had not made it to social media, how badly would Dr Dao be treated? The CEO's behavior is indicative of a person who would blame Dr Dao and make him wrong at any expense.
IF YOU CAN'T SAY ANYTHING EMPATHETIC KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT. After the CEO's comments commending his staff and demeaning Dr Dao, there is very little credibility left. Respect for him is diminished amongst passengers, who have gone so far as to actually protest at airports. In trial law, what someone states spontaneously and without much forethought is granted much credibility. Mr Munoz has made his personality and position known. Anything that comes from him from television (Good Morning America) or otherwise is scripted and obviously so, as it is a PR move he is forced into because his comments took a bad situation and made it substantially worse.
BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR WORDS AND POSITIONING OF YOUR FIRM. Even if he leaves United, I would assume Oscar Munoz has a beautiful parachute and soft pillow to land on. The company, on the other hand, will have to burn through millions to overcome this tragedy. Normally, in a company, if you receive bad service from the front end and are at your wit's end, you can always write to the CEO's office and some executive admin will help you resolve your issues and maintain your loyalty to the company. In the case of United, you know that even if they do to you what they did to Dr Dao, you know that 'you' will be in the wrong and he will attack your credibility so why bother? You can't go higher than the CEO and with United you know where you stand. Don't let this happen in 'your' company.
MAKE CONTACT WITH THE AGGRIEVED PARTY ASAP. As of the writing of this article, Mr Munoz has not personally made contact with Dr Dao. Nothing is warmer than human contact. Email won't do, letters won't do, and nor will communications from your team. To hear from the CEO would have been wonderful. A bond could have been forged, an understanding; the could even have become friends, seriously. The more one side does not communicate with the other, the more the other makes 'stories' up in their mind about what is going on, even if not true, they will believe it. By separating himself from Dr Dao, Mr Munoz magnified a small situation and made it the PR nighmare of the airline world.
WORK IT OUT BEFORE IT BECOMES A LAWSUIT. If a situation is so out of control that a lawyer has been hired or litigation is threatened, resolve it immediately. Negotiate and work out a settlement or understanding of some sort. Keep it confidential if you have to, or be generous and go public with it. This is especially the case if you are in the wrong. In today's world of Yelp and social media, one event can put a small company out of business. Regrettably, once again, United has shown what to do. If this situation would have been resolved early, United could have received points for handling a bad situation well and could have still maintained the public's respect. Now, it is going into litigation and you can see Mr Dao's attorney on television screens everywhere. This free airtime damaging United would not be going on had this fiasco been settled.
---
Steven Riznyk is the CEO and senior litigator of San Diego Biz Law, a high-level negotiator, and business strategist who is hired to analyze and resolve complex and crisis issues worldwide. He can be reached at 619-793-4827.
WHAT UNITED AIRLINES TEACHES BUSINESS OWNERS ABOUT CRISIS CONTROL: What 'Not' To Do.
United had a problem. Regrettably, they kept making it worse and now have become a great model for businesses everywhere; a teaching example of what not to do. What happened to them was no surprise because they did nothing other airlines may do. How they did it, however, and then followed it up, makes for a great learning opportunity for entrepreneurs worldwide. Sooner or later, every business has a crisis; how it handles it will determine its success or demise. For the sake of organization, let's examine this situation numerically:
TRY TO RESOLVE IT WITH SOMETHING THAT COMES EASILY TO YOU BUT YOUR CUSTOMER VALUES. Four staff members required a flight at the last moment. United was able to offer incentives to three seat holders but not a fourth. First mistake. The staff knew that the only option available was to forcibly remove the passenger, 69-year-old Dr David Dao. Even if it did not end up on social media, the passenger could have made a scene or any one of a number of things could have happened to make it more colorful an event than United would want. It would have been so much easier to put their own staff member on another airline or hire someone to replace the person. They could even have a policy in place to prevent last minute shifting of staff at passengers' expense.
It would have cost United very little to up the offer and make any excess miles (ie more than they would regularly offer) on a standby basis. Second, they could have offered enough miles or flight credits to all the passengers and sooner or later they would find a taker. That is certainly cheaper than either losing a client's business or losing the business of 80% of the passengers onboard witnessing an involuntary removal.
AVOID CALLING THE POLICE (of any kind) FOR A NON-CRIMINAL INCIDENT. The police should 'not' have been called. That was a huge mistake. At this stage, they created a common divide and there was no way to ever patch the relationship with the passenger again, and that's just the beginning of the end. The possibility of negotiating with Dr Dao now is less than 1%. There is always in negotiation what we call 'the point of no return'. Calling the police in a case like this only alienates a customer/passenger even more and reinforces the fact that the two parties are on opposite sides of the table.
With the police there, other troubles can occur. A person may flail their arms and unintentionally touch the policeman, and get charged criminally for assault on a police officer. In fact, by manhandling him and breaking his nose, the police showed us that they came with their 'tough guy' mentality and were going to do whatever it took to remove the passenger. They did, and here we are.
In this case, United should have had a senior representative talk to Dr Dao or offer something to other passengers. After all, this was a flight, not an MMA event and the passenger was not a problem to United until they kicked him out of his seat because fine print the public is not aware of allows them to.
SHOW THEM WHO THE MANAGEMENT REALLY IS, AND DEMONSTRATE COMPASSION FOR THE SITUATION. When this story made it to social media, the first response from the CEO would be an instant public apology. The public needs to think of him as a nice, warm individual who just had the bad luck of hiring someone as inept as the person who made this decision, and those on the ground who supported it. Every company has bad luck with employees from time to time. Unfortunately, the CEO or president is held responsible. Instead of apologizing to the elder Dr Doa , Mr Munoz apologizes for having to "re-accommodate these customers". By doing so, he alienated Dr. Dao and loyal customers.
The first question is: Is he ignoring Dr Dao? The other three had no problem with this, so why is he using the plural form? Is he ignoring Dr Dao, or is he grouping him with the rest, as in 'no big deal'?
YOU MAY LOYALLY STAND BEHIND YOUR STAFF BUT NOT WHEN THEY ARE IN THE WRONG. The CEO, after the event, stated to his staff "I want to commend you for continuing to go above and beyond to ensure we fly right". That sends the wrong message to the staff. Even at the point that Dr Dao was being dragged off forcefully, we are not aware that a single United staff member stepped in to keep the situation under control or make it more human; they all watched and enjoyed their newfound powers the CEO endorsed. Either the CEO does not care for United Airlines' stock or has a police officer mentality; neither support what he is being paid to do.
In this situation, the CEO should have explained to his front-end staff that they should follow protocol and offer the amounts the airline should have offered for the seat and if it took a bit more to avoid dragging someone off, that should have been done before the police were called. This is clearly the opposite of what Mr Munoz stated: it is not going above and beyond, it is going down and below, into the abyss, where the airline is flying now.
DO NOT ANGER A CUSTOMER AND THEN ACCUSE HIM OR HER WITH BEING BELIGIRENT. This is a common tactic used by the police to arrest persons. Something happens that would affect someone emotionally, the person gets upset, and they are blamed for being upset. Oscar Munoz, instead of apologizing to Dr Dao, decided to use the same tactic that litigators use all the time in court...get a witness upset and then use their reactions to show how unreasonable they are. Additionally, he used the standard response in a rape case...if you may have committed the offense, show how bad she was. Instead of dealing with his staff's bad decisions and their consequences, he chose to find fault with Dr Dao. At this point, he just lost his own credibility. His inherent narcissistic tendencies demonstrate to the public that even if a video show what is horrific behavior on the part of United's decisions, his only concern is that he is right and Dr Dao brought this on himself. What is even frightening to United passengers is that if this video had not made it to social media, how badly would Dr Dao be treated? The CEO's behavior is indicative of a person who would blame Dr Dao and make him wrong at any expense.
IF YOU CAN'T SAY ANYTHING EMPATHETIC KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT. After the CEO's comments commending his staff and demeaning Dr Dao, there is very little credibility left. Respect for him is diminished amongst passengers, who have gone so far as to actually protest at airports. In trial law, what someone states spontaneously and without much forethought is granted much credibility. Mr Munoz has made his personality and position known. Anything that comes from him from television (Good Morning America) or otherwise is scripted and obviously so, as it is a PR move he is forced into because his comments took a bad situation and made it substantially worse.
BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR WORDS AND POSITIONING OF YOUR FIRM. Even if he leaves United, I would assume Oscar Munoz has a beautiful parachute and soft pillow to land on. The company, on the other hand, will have to burn through millions to overcome this tragedy. Normally, in a company, if you receive bad service from the front end and are at your wit's end, you can always write to the CEO's office and some executive admin will help you resolve your issues and maintain your loyalty to the company. In the case of United, you know that even if they do to you what they did to Dr Dao, you know that 'you' will be in the wrong and he will attack your credibility so why bother? You can't go higher than the CEO and with United you know where you stand. Don't let this happen in 'your' company.
MAKE CONTACT WITH THE AGGRIEVED PARTY ASAP. As of the writing of this article, Mr Munoz has not personally made contact with Dr Dao. Nothing is warmer than human contact. Email won't do, letters won't do, and nor will communications from your team. To hear from the CEO would have been wonderful. A bond could have been forged, an understanding; the could even have become friends, seriously. The more one side does not communicate with the other, the more the other makes 'stories' up in their mind about what is going on, even if not true, they will believe it. By separating himself from Dr Dao, Mr Munoz magnified a small situation and made it the PR nighmare of the airline world.
WORK IT OUT BEFORE IT BECOMES A LAWSUIT. If a situation is so out of control that a lawyer has been hired or litigation is threatened, resolve it immediately. Negotiate and work out a settlement or understanding of some sort. Keep it confidential if you have to, or be generous and go public with it. This is especially the case if you are in the wrong. In today's world of Yelp and social media, one event can put a small company out of business. Regrettably, once again, United has shown what to do. If this situation would have been resolved early, United could have received points for handling a bad situation well and could have still maintained the public's respect. Now, it is going into litigation and you can see Mr Dao's attorney on television screens everywhere. This free airtime damaging United would not be going on had this fiasco been settled.
---
Steven Riznyk is the CEO and senior litigator of San Diego Biz Law, a high-level negotiator, and business strategist who is hired to analyze and resolve complex and crisis issues worldwide. He can be reached at 619-793-4827.
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