Crisis and Image Repair at United Airline s: Fly the Unfriendly Skies

Abstract

In April 2017, United Airlines had a passenger removed from one of its airplanes. Video of the bleeding man being dragged off through the aisle went viral the next day. United’s initial response attempted to downplay this off ensive act (relying primarily on diff erentiation and mortifi cation, but not really apologizing for this off ensive act). This stance provoked outrage and ridicule. This study applies image repair theory (Benoit, 2015) to the discourse in this case study. United’s CEO, Oscar Munoz, was forced to off er a “do-over,” stressing mortifi cation and corrective action that were actually directed to the off ensive act. United fi nally arrived at the proper response, but it came too late to realize its full potential. This essay argues that corrective action can be an important strategy in crisis communication theory; it also explains that social media have changed the crisis situation (with nearly instant and widespread criticism) and compressed the time in which those accused of wrongdoing can respond.