United CEO Oscar Munoz said the airline will no longer use law enforcement officials to remove passengers from overbooked flights following the uproar over a video showing a passenger being violently dragged from a plane.
“We are not going to put a law enforcement official to take them off,” Munoz said in an interview with ABC aired on “Good Morning America” Wednesday. “To remove a booked, paid, seated passenger — we can’t do that.”
Munoz said he felt “shame” when he initially saw the viral video, and apologized to the passenger and family of David Dao, who refused to give up his seat on a United flight from Chicago to Louisville, Ky.
{mosads}The airline initially offered passengers up to $800 before selecting passengers to remove from the flight. When Dao refused to leave the flight because he said he was a doctor who needed to reach his patients, law enforcement officials were brought on board to help remove him.
One security officer involved has reportedly been placed on leave.
Munoz called the incident a “system failure.”
“We have not provided our frontline supervisors and managers and individuals with the proper procedures that would allow them to use their common sense,” he said.
“This is on me. I have to fix that, and I think that’s something we can do.”
An online petition calling for Munoz to resign following the incident had nearly 50,000 signatures as of Wednesday morning.
But the top executive told ABC he has no plans to step down.