Dear United Airlines,
You were ranked #14 on Forbes Best Airlines. You say that your motto is "Fly the Friendly Skies," yet that is not what Dr. David Dao experienced on Flight 3411 when he was dragged off the plane after refusing to give up his seat.
As someone majoring in hospitality, I understand that there are hard calls that have to be made sometimes. When you overbook, you have to walk someone to a different hotel. If a meal gets messed up, you fix the meal and then you pay for it. When you overbook a flight, you offer to bump passengers to first class on the next available flight. But forcibly dragging them out? That is unacceptable.
In hospitality, we are taught to put the customers first. We are taught to fix problems when we see them and take the initiative to think outside the box in order to come up with the best possible solution. Yes, it's hard sometimes, especially when there's an overbooking involved. But that's when you really have to look at the bigger picture and think about how your actions are going to affect the face of the company.
What I don't understand is why you lied. You told the press that Dr. Dao was "disruptive and belligerent." And then the videos taken on the phones of other passengers were released and it was shown that the man dragged off the plane was neither of those things. You not only physically hurt the man in question, but you butchered your own company's reputation.
The moment that you laid a hand on Dr. Dao, you disgraced the hospitality industry. You made all of us hospitality students embarrassed and ashamed to associate you with our chosen industry. What you did was not hospitable in any way, and that isn't something that is easily forgivable.
We all chose hospitality for a reason: We want to serve others. We have a desire to better the lives of other people, whether it be through a hotel stay, a meal at a restaurant, a memorable wedding, or a comfortable flight. You took that away from us. We looked up to you! You were a company that we talked about in class! Now, we can only talk about you with disgust.
Please, give us a reason to forgive you. Give us a reason to want to be like you again. Live up to your own motto! When people think about hospitality, we want them to think about the good experiences they have, not the inhumane actions they hear about on the news. We've worked hard to live up to everything that hospitality encompasses, but now it's your turn. Remember everything you first learned about how to treat customers and what to do when a problem arises. Make the world believe in you again. Make us believe in you again.
Good luck,
A hospitality student