United Airlines settles lawsuit in dragged passenger case

  • 28/04/2017

Embattled airline United looks to have finally put a tumultuous few weeks behind them after reaching an out-of-court settlement with a passenger who was violently removed from a flight.

United Airlines had been the target of worldwide anger after footage emerged of Dr David Dao being dragged screaming from his seat after the airline realised they needed to put extra crew members on the aircraft so they could make it in time for another flight.

Videos of the incident - some of which show the 69-year-old's face being smacked on his armrest so hard that it bleeds - have resulted in shares in the airline's parent company plummeting by nearly $1b, a boycott threat from Chinese flyers, a parody commercial from US late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, and a lawsuit from Dr Dao.

However, United now appears to have found a solution to the latter problem.

"We are pleased to report that United and Dr Dao have reached an amicable resolution of the unfortunate incident that occurred aboard flight 3411," a statement from the company said.

"We look forward to implementing the improvements we have announced, which will put our customers at the centre of everything we do."

Lawyers for Dr Dao say one of the conditions to the settlement is that his payout remains confidential.

They also revealed that their client had suffered a concussion, a broken nose, and lost his two front teeth. Dr Dao said the experience was more "horrifying and harrowing" than his experiences in the Vietnam War.

The airline's statement comes two weeks after they announced they would be offering refunds to all those on the April 9 flight from Chicago to Kentucky.

United CEO Oscar Munoz, who drew derision for what was deemed to be his lacklustre initial response, said it was "a bad moment" for the company and that they were working to administer new measures that would prevent such an incident from occurring again.

Some of those include offering passengers up to US$10,000 ($14,500) to de-plane and presenting more creative solutions to booking problems, such as flying passengers to nearby airports and driving them to their destination.

Newshub.