July 21st 2017
Viral video footage of a passenger being violently removed from an overbooked United Airlines flight on the evening of Sunday, April 9th, and the tepid responses from United brass that followed, seems to have had at least a short term impact on the company's bookings in the United States. Data from our proprietary panel for the first full week after the incident reveal a sharp decline in United bookings market share relative to recent patterns.
The global public outrage intensified when initial statements from United struck a defiant tone, calling the passenger, "belligerent and disruptive." United has since committed to reviewing policies that precipitated the incident, refunding each passenger on the affected flight, and its chief executive, Oscar Munoz, appeared publicly to apologize on behalf of the brand.
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*The data shown is based on a sample of anonymized and aggregated e-receipts from millions of consumers in the United States.