Dragging Passenger off the Plane Pressures United Stock and Industry Overbooking

Andrew BlumBy having a passenger dragged off a plane, United Airlines has lost its reputation in the court of public opinion and is now about to be battered further in the court system.As the name of the passenger emerged as Louisville doctor David Dao, his newly hired attorney, Thomas Demetrio of Chicago, held a masterful one-hour press conference alternating between folksy, populist and litigious.Meanwhile, United kept trying to put out the PR and social media fire it started, and lost the PR battle again. Amid speculation that CEO Oscar Munoz could be fired or forced to resign, Demetrio made it clear that Dao would not only file suit, but would become the poster child for customers tired of bullying by the airline industry.This is such a viral, visceral story that we can expect the media to cover it every step of the way – from court hearings, to the filing of the lawsuit and to a news conference down the road featuring Dao himself. That is once he recovers from a concussion, broken nose, injured sinuses and two lost teeth suffered at the hands of Chicago Aviation Department officers called by United to drag him off the plane.Demetrio, one of the top personal injury and aviation plaintiff's attorneys in the country, knew he had a gripping media story as soon as he was retained by Dao. He used that to maximum PR impact at the press conference and threw down the litigation PR gauntlet at United.On Friday, United and its board apologized for the umpteenth time. So, how does United respond now? Hire a bunch of lawyers, for starters. Bring in new crisis PR consultants and brand mavens. Getting rid of Munoz isn't the answer. He communicated poorly, and in the process, PR Week pulled back from naming him as Communicator of the Year.But he has bigger problems. United's stock is down millions of dollars since the incident. On Tuesday, Munoz faces what will be a long earnings call where the Dao incident will be a focal point. And now the United Pilots Union is angry, saying they were not involved with the entire incident – taking pains to point out the flight was operated by United Express – a separately owned carrier run by Republic Airline.The union says United pilots weren't flying the plane and the four airline employees given customer seats – including Dao's -- worked for Republic. It added they were "infuriated" by the incident and blamed it on the security officers.One thing United can't do from here on out is to get down in the mud – a tactic that sometimes happens in litigation PR: they can't go after Dao either publicly or privately. That will just blow up in their face.The massive negative publicity may wane over the time but United has left the industry with a huge black eye over treatment of customers. They need to clean this up, period. Their brand depends on it. [author]About the Author: Andrew Blum is a PR consultant and media trainer and principal of AJB Communications. He has directed PR for professional services and financial services firms, NGOs, agencies and other clients. As a PR executive, and formerly as a journalist, he has been involved on both sides of the media aisle in some of the most media intensive crises of the past 25 years. Contact him at ajbcomms@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter: @ajbcomms [/author]