By Betsy Atkins
With the death of a dog in flight, it may be time for the United Airlines board to revisit their brand’s values and vision, and the importance of living up to them.
United’s customer service curse struck again last week with the death of a passenger’s French bulldog, after the flight crew forced the pooch to be placed in an overhead bin on a Houston to New York flight. And just a day afterward, the airline goofed again, accidentally shipping a Kansas City-bound family’s German shepherd to Japan.
According to U.S. Department of Transportation figures, United’s death and injury rate for animals in transport is more than double that of all other U.S. airlines. When 62% of American’s own a pet, the result is a body blow to public confidence in United.
Of course, United has even bigger problems with the way it treats people. We all saw the gruesome cellphone footage from last year of a passenger being dragged off an overbooked flight. Such misbookings, seat mix-ups, threats and even assaults to passengers fill any news search on “United Airlines.”
No doubt a mega-enterprise like United has plenty of people and systems to blame for abusing their consumers and damaging their own brand. But such a widespread failure cannot be separated from United’s overall corporate culture.
This meltdown starts at the very top – the United Airlines board of directors has the opportunity to ask management to come up with a plan to change the culture to passenger centric.
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