United Airlines could have avoided PR nightmare by following economics 101
According to reports, airlines routinely overbook their flights leading inconvenience to passengers On April 9, a passenger was forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight from Chicago O’Hare to Louisville after the carrier was unable to find volunteers to accommodate four of its employees on standby. Dramatic videos of the incident have gone viral on YouTube and social networks, and I reckon the resulting cost of this PR disaster will likely make United’s CEO wish he had sent in a private jet to ferry those employees to Louisville (which the airline could easily have afforded, given its net income of US$2.3 billion in 2016). ALSO READ: United shares fall after worldwide backlash over dragged passenger Many articles have reported that airlines routinely overbook their flights, and sometimes passengers have to accept (voluntarily or not) the inconvenience of getting to their destination later than planned. As an airline economist, I do not recall, howev...
