United Figures Out a Way to Top Pepsi for Worst PR Blunder of the Year

So, I didn't think an organization was going to be able to top Pepsi for worst PR clusterfuck of the year. But oh boy, was I wrong.

If you're not living under a rock, I'm sure you've heard that recently, United Airlines overbooked a flight and forcibly removed a man from the plane after he refused to give up his seat. United offered passengers incentives to give up their seats, but when none took the bait, they randomly selected four passengers to remove from the plane. Three of the passengers got up, pissed off, but willingly got up. The fourth, said he was a doctor and needed to be on this flight to get back to the hospital. So what did they do? The violently removed this man from the plane. The incident was captured and plastered all over social media. This man's bare stomach exposed as they drag him by the arms across the aisle off the plane. I can't imagine the pain, much less the humiliation that this man must have felt.

United was kicking passengers off the plane so four United employees could board, by the way. So they blatantly put their employees before paying customers.

To make matters worse, United's CEO tweeted out the absolute worst response imaginable.

The word of the year is now "re-accommodate." This statement took absolute no responsibility for the situation. This statement apologized to absolutely no one. This statement says "We're sorry smart phones are a thing and this got plastered all over social media, and now we have to deal with it." 

Did the PR professionals of the industry right now receive no education in regards to crisis management? Who crafted this statement? Probably the same idiot that made the decision to drag a human being off an airplane.

I hope this man sues and wins enough to buy his own damn plane with his own damn pilot and his own damn seats that he can't be dragged out of. 

I hope United loses billions in business, they deserve it. I hope this CEO receives a punishment fit for this sort of blunder, like losing his job. I almost feel bad for the PR team in this instance, they are up against a SeaWorld type battle. A battle quite frankly, I hope they lose. 

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