Clayton State University United Airlines Flight 3411 Case Study Analysis
Description
review the Case Example 3.2 United Airlines Flight 3411 on pages 67–70 of the textbook. This case describes a problem exacerbated by social media and the attempt by United Airlines to quell misconceptions. Evaluate this case, and respond to each of the following questions using both theory and practical managerial thinking. Make certain to support your research.
What are the ethical aspects both from the standpoint of the passenger and the company? Remember to analyze both sides objectively.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the approach used by the chief executive officer (CEO) in regard to the use of digital marketing tools?
How could the CEO have used the website to reinforce a more positive message?
What are some alternative actions that you would have taken in regard to using digital or traditional marketing tools in this situation? Be specific with respect to what digital marketing tools you are recommending, and provide the rationale for their use.
Thinking more broadly about how this event has changed the perception of United Airlines, how would you change aspects of the marketing mix to create a more positive perception through their digital marketing?
Unformatted Attachment Preview
Case Example 3.2 United
Airlines Flight 3411
67
a
On 9 April 2017, Dr David Dao was flying from
Chicago to Louisville, Kentucky. This is a short
flight lasting under one and a half hours. All
passengers were on the airplane, waiting for the
doors to shut when the cabin crew said the flight
was overbooked and volunteers were needed to
provide seats. The seats were not needed for
other paying passengers, but for some airline
staff who wanted to get to Louisville. There are
five flights on this route on most days, but the
staff could not wait. Passengers were said to be
offered $800 in United Airlines vouchers, if they
would take the next flight. There were no
volunteers, therefore, at random, the cabin crew
selected four passengers, one of whom was Dr
David Dao. He said he could not take the next
flight as he had patients waiting to see him. The
cabin crew were not happy about this, so
requested Chicago Aviation Security to remove
the passenger. In the meantime, other
passengers, many of whom became citizen
journalists, started filming the incident. The
videos showed Dr Dao being forcibly dragged
out of his seat and down the aisle. The videos
were uploaded to several social media channels.
Let’s explore the timeline of how United Airlines
managed responses to the video.
10 April 2017
The United Airlines CEO sends a letter to his staff
which is shared via social media. In the letter, he
commented that ‘the facts and circumstances are
still evolving, especially with respect to why this
customer defied Chicago Aviation Security
officer the way he did’. He adds, ’As you will
read, the situation was unfortunately
compounded when one of the passengers we
politely asked to deplane refused.’
18
It is also worth noting, that as many PR
professionals will tell you, organisations are
‘leaky’ and this letter was intended as a letter
from the CEO to all staff. Yet someone in the staff
decided to share this via social media.
Sharing content with outsiders, or whistle-
blowing, indicates ethical concerns within an
organisation and, according to researchers
Culiberg and Mihelic, is ‘one way of drawing
attention to wrongdoings in business’ (Culiberg
and Mihelic, 2016).
Some staff obviously felt strongly enough to
share the letter via the media, which
exacerbated the overall situation, further
worsening the brand image.
10 April 2017
10 April 2017
Later the same day, a tweet is posted from the
CEO to a public audience. Again, the CEO does
not apologise to the passenger, who we learn has
sustained severe injuries.
11 April 2017
The next day a hashtag was created, which
became so popular it started trending and
appearing across Twitter. The hashtag was
#NewUnitedAirlinesMottos and many
individuals developed alternative, very negative,
mottos for United Airlines, including:
• If we cannot beat our competitors, we
beat our customers @DHerkes
https://twitter.com/dherkes/status/85183575751384
We’re not happy until you’re not happy
@eslgirl420
https://twitter.com/eslgirl420/status/852175823746!
• We seat you, then we beat you
@_Jeff_Glenn
https://twitter.com/Jeff Glenn /status/8521707585′
· Board as a doctor, leave as a patient
@fanqin0619
https://twitter.com/fangin0619/status/85170534838
These negative hashtags, known as bashtags, are
not a new idea. The hashtag becoming a
‘bashtag’ was first mooted with difficulties that
McDonald’s encountered when trying to
generate positive PR for their farmers (Kashmir
McDonald’s encountered when trying to
generate positive PR for their farmers (Kashmir
Hill, 2012). They tweeted using a hashtag
#McDStories and this was overtaken with
negative comments across social media,
resulting in the company’s share price dropping.
As United had failed to respond with sympathy
or an apology, the outrage grew and in public
relations terms, the situation was fast becoming
a media disaster, consequently featuring as the
top TV and radio news story worldwide.
It was so badly managed it was as if the Four Rs
of crisis communications – Recognition,
Rehearsal, Response and Recovery – had never
been addressed. PR specialist John Moscatelli,
writing in the journal Public Relations Tactics,
discussed the Four Rs and commented that ‘most
people tackle crises in a risk-avoidance or risk-
reduction state’ (Moscatelli, 2015) and perhaps
this was the intention behind the tweet, where
they mentioned ‘conduct our own detailed
review’ rather than addressing the issue.
a
11 April 2017
On 11 April, the CEO issued a communication on
United’s website to the team’ and said, “The truly
horrific event that occurred on this flight has
elicited many responses from all of us: outrage,
anger, disappointment. I share all of those
sentiments, and one above all, my deepest
apologies for what happened.’
Note the use of the word ‘sentiment. Clearly the
negative sentiment online is now visible to the
management team and they have decided to
react, but returning to the Four Rs of crisis
communications, the response has arrived too
late and significant brand damage has occurred.
The results of this become visible within 24
hours, as the stock price drops.
11 April 2017
The next part of the saga, also on 11 April, saw
the disclosure that Dr Dao had engaged two legal
firms: a top Chicago corporate lawyer, as well as
an aviation specialist. Their statement revealed
that Dr Dao had sustained serious injuries and
was indeed a patient in hospital.
12 April 2017
–
As the story unfolded, United Airlines’ stock
value fell by 1.1%, taking $255 million off the
airline’s market capital. This is the time for
drastic action and a press conference is
convened. What’s interesting here is that United
reverts to traditional methods of PR – the press
conference. Two internationally known public
relations scholars, Maureen Taylor and Michael
L Kent, have written about the integration of
traditional tactics with online tactics during a
crisis (Taylor and Kent, 2007) and although this
was over a decade ago, their article ‘Taxonomy
of mediated crisis responses’, still explains all
the steps to be followed. Little of the advice was
recognised by United.
United lurched from posting comments to
Twitter, to adding material to its website. Rather
than following best practice and setting up a
dedicated web page, the response was scattered
over several pages, demonstrating a lack of
control over the message within the firm.
13 April 2017
The drop in the share price created the need for
a press conference and the CEO issued a
statement confirming ‘We continue to express
our sincerest apology to Dr Dao. We cannot
stress enough that we remain steadfast in our
commitment to make this right. This horrible
situation has provided a harsh learning
experience from which we will take immediate,
concrete action’ (United Airlines, 2017b).
The language has changed at this stage and the
first public apology, direct to Dr Dao, takes place.
We will never know, but I suspect at this stage
additional board members stepped in with some
stronger advice and required a change in tone,
from hostile to sympathetic. The earlier tone of
voice used by United Airlines failed to
demonstrate any sympathy for, or offer apology
to, Dr Dao, yet the research tells us (see, for
example, Gensler et al., 2013; DiStaso et al. 2015)
that this is the best practice. There is a fear that
an apology might result in legal action, but it
was clear in this case that a law suit was
imminent, as later that same day an image was
posted on Twitter showing Thomas Demetrio on
the front cover of the magazine Super Lawyers,
accompanied by a tweet from the Super
Lawyers, ‘if you’re curious about Dr. Dao’s
lawyer, Thomas Demetrio from
@CorboyDemetrio, check out our 2009 feature
on him’.
14 April 2017
A news story appeared as United Airlines issued
a staff bulletin declaring that ‘passengers take
priority over staff’ in over-boarding situations.
This is a dramatic policy U-turn in only five days.
27 April 2017
Eighteen days later, Corboy & Demetrio, the
lawyers for Dr Dao, issued a statement: ‘Dr
David Dao has reached an amicable settlement
with United Airlines for the injuries he received
in his April 9th ordeal, which was captured on
video and viewed worldwide’ (Corboy &
Demetrio, 2017). This is the response and a move
towards recovery in the Four Rs of crisis
communication, but it has taken far too long
and, as a result, United Airlines had to make
sweeping changes to their business operations,
which were revealed later the same day.
27 April 2017
United issued a press release on its website
entitled ‘We are making changes to ensure that
we always put customers firsť (United Airlines,
2017a). This included a two-minute video from
the CEO which included the words ‘shameful
and ‘shocking’, along with a commitment to
change.
Whilst the agreement and financial details
remain confidential, the story is unlikely to have
ended here. The volume of tweets and the way
the social media posts have become ‘legacy
content, stored in Google and other search
engines, means that it could take years for
United Airlines to recover from this crisis and
repair significant brand damage.
Purchase answer to see full
attachment
Airlines Flight 3411
67
a
On 9 April 2017, Dr David Dao was flying from
Chicago to Louisville, Kentucky. This is a short
flight lasting under one and a half hours. All
passengers were on the airplane, waiting for the
doors to shut when the cabin crew said the flight
was overbooked and volunteers were needed to
provide seats. The seats were not needed for
other paying passengers, but for some airline
staff who wanted to get to Louisville. There are
five flights on this route on most days, but the
staff could not wait. Passengers were said to be
offered $800 in United Airlines vouchers, if they
would take the next flight. There were no
volunteers, therefore, at random, the cabin crew
selected four passengers, one of whom was Dr
David Dao. He said he could not take the next
flight as he had patients waiting to see him. The
cabin crew were not happy about this, so
requested Chicago Aviation Security to remove
the passenger. In the meantime, other
passengers, many of whom became citizen
journalists, started filming the incident. The
videos showed Dr Dao being forcibly dragged
out of his seat and down the aisle. The videos
were uploaded to several social media channels.
Let’s explore the timeline of how United Airlines
managed responses to the video.
10 April 2017
The United Airlines CEO sends a letter to his staff
which is shared via social media. In the letter, he
commented that ‘the facts and circumstances are
still evolving, especially with respect to why this
customer defied Chicago Aviation Security
officer the way he did’. He adds, ’As you will
read, the situation was unfortunately
compounded when one of the passengers we
politely asked to deplane refused.’
18
It is also worth noting, that as many PR
professionals will tell you, organisations are
‘leaky’ and this letter was intended as a letter
from the CEO to all staff. Yet someone in the staff
decided to share this via social media.
Sharing content with outsiders, or whistle-
blowing, indicates ethical concerns within an
organisation and, according to researchers
Culiberg and Mihelic, is ‘one way of drawing
attention to wrongdoings in business’ (Culiberg
and Mihelic, 2016).
Some staff obviously felt strongly enough to
share the letter via the media, which
exacerbated the overall situation, further
worsening the brand image.
10 April 2017
10 April 2017
Later the same day, a tweet is posted from the
CEO to a public audience. Again, the CEO does
not apologise to the passenger, who we learn has
sustained severe injuries.
11 April 2017
The next day a hashtag was created, which
became so popular it started trending and
appearing across Twitter. The hashtag was
#NewUnitedAirlinesMottos and many
individuals developed alternative, very negative,
mottos for United Airlines, including:
• If we cannot beat our competitors, we
beat our customers @DHerkes
https://twitter.com/dherkes/status/85183575751384
We’re not happy until you’re not happy
@eslgirl420
https://twitter.com/eslgirl420/status/852175823746!
• We seat you, then we beat you
@_Jeff_Glenn
https://twitter.com/Jeff Glenn /status/8521707585′
· Board as a doctor, leave as a patient
@fanqin0619
https://twitter.com/fangin0619/status/85170534838
These negative hashtags, known as bashtags, are
not a new idea. The hashtag becoming a
‘bashtag’ was first mooted with difficulties that
McDonald’s encountered when trying to
generate positive PR for their farmers (Kashmir
McDonald’s encountered when trying to
generate positive PR for their farmers (Kashmir
Hill, 2012). They tweeted using a hashtag
#McDStories and this was overtaken with
negative comments across social media,
resulting in the company’s share price dropping.
As United had failed to respond with sympathy
or an apology, the outrage grew and in public
relations terms, the situation was fast becoming
a media disaster, consequently featuring as the
top TV and radio news story worldwide.
It was so badly managed it was as if the Four Rs
of crisis communications – Recognition,
Rehearsal, Response and Recovery – had never
been addressed. PR specialist John Moscatelli,
writing in the journal Public Relations Tactics,
discussed the Four Rs and commented that ‘most
people tackle crises in a risk-avoidance or risk-
reduction state’ (Moscatelli, 2015) and perhaps
this was the intention behind the tweet, where
they mentioned ‘conduct our own detailed
review’ rather than addressing the issue.
a
11 April 2017
On 11 April, the CEO issued a communication on
United’s website to the team’ and said, “The truly
horrific event that occurred on this flight has
elicited many responses from all of us: outrage,
anger, disappointment. I share all of those
sentiments, and one above all, my deepest
apologies for what happened.’
Note the use of the word ‘sentiment. Clearly the
negative sentiment online is now visible to the
management team and they have decided to
react, but returning to the Four Rs of crisis
communications, the response has arrived too
late and significant brand damage has occurred.
The results of this become visible within 24
hours, as the stock price drops.
11 April 2017
The next part of the saga, also on 11 April, saw
the disclosure that Dr Dao had engaged two legal
firms: a top Chicago corporate lawyer, as well as
an aviation specialist. Their statement revealed
that Dr Dao had sustained serious injuries and
was indeed a patient in hospital.
12 April 2017
–
As the story unfolded, United Airlines’ stock
value fell by 1.1%, taking $255 million off the
airline’s market capital. This is the time for
drastic action and a press conference is
convened. What’s interesting here is that United
reverts to traditional methods of PR – the press
conference. Two internationally known public
relations scholars, Maureen Taylor and Michael
L Kent, have written about the integration of
traditional tactics with online tactics during a
crisis (Taylor and Kent, 2007) and although this
was over a decade ago, their article ‘Taxonomy
of mediated crisis responses’, still explains all
the steps to be followed. Little of the advice was
recognised by United.
United lurched from posting comments to
Twitter, to adding material to its website. Rather
than following best practice and setting up a
dedicated web page, the response was scattered
over several pages, demonstrating a lack of
control over the message within the firm.
13 April 2017
The drop in the share price created the need for
a press conference and the CEO issued a
statement confirming ‘We continue to express
our sincerest apology to Dr Dao. We cannot
stress enough that we remain steadfast in our
commitment to make this right. This horrible
situation has provided a harsh learning
experience from which we will take immediate,
concrete action’ (United Airlines, 2017b).
The language has changed at this stage and the
first public apology, direct to Dr Dao, takes place.
We will never know, but I suspect at this stage
additional board members stepped in with some
stronger advice and required a change in tone,
from hostile to sympathetic. The earlier tone of
voice used by United Airlines failed to
demonstrate any sympathy for, or offer apology
to, Dr Dao, yet the research tells us (see, for
example, Gensler et al., 2013; DiStaso et al. 2015)
that this is the best practice. There is a fear that
an apology might result in legal action, but it
was clear in this case that a law suit was
imminent, as later that same day an image was
posted on Twitter showing Thomas Demetrio on
the front cover of the magazine Super Lawyers,
accompanied by a tweet from the Super
Lawyers, ‘if you’re curious about Dr. Dao’s
lawyer, Thomas Demetrio from
@CorboyDemetrio, check out our 2009 feature
on him’.
14 April 2017
A news story appeared as United Airlines issued
a staff bulletin declaring that ‘passengers take
priority over staff’ in over-boarding situations.
This is a dramatic policy U-turn in only five days.
27 April 2017
Eighteen days later, Corboy & Demetrio, the
lawyers for Dr Dao, issued a statement: ‘Dr
David Dao has reached an amicable settlement
with United Airlines for the injuries he received
in his April 9th ordeal, which was captured on
video and viewed worldwide’ (Corboy &
Demetrio, 2017). This is the response and a move
towards recovery in the Four Rs of crisis
communication, but it has taken far too long
and, as a result, United Airlines had to make
sweeping changes to their business operations,
which were revealed later the same day.
27 April 2017
United issued a press release on its website
entitled ‘We are making changes to ensure that
we always put customers firsť (United Airlines,
2017a). This included a two-minute video from
the CEO which included the words ‘shameful
and ‘shocking’, along with a commitment to
change.
Whilst the agreement and financial details
remain confidential, the story is unlikely to have
ended here. The volume of tweets and the way
the social media posts have become ‘legacy
content, stored in Google and other search
engines, means that it could take years for
United Airlines to recover from this crisis and
repair significant brand damage.
Purchase answer to see full
attachment
Explanation & Answer:
4 pages
User generated content is uploaded by users for the purposes of learning and should be used following Studypool’s honor code & terms of service.
