People will avoid flying United if rival offers same flight: poll.

United Airlines could be bracing for impact from its PR ordeal.

More than 40% percent of people who say they’ve recently heard of the company — still reeling from a viral incident that saw a man bloodied and dragged through a packed aircraft — would opt for a competitor’s pricier flight that had an extra layover, a new Morning Consult poll says.

The poll asked respondents on Wednesday, three days after a Kentucky doctor’s forcible ejection stirred national outrage, to choose between a $204 nonstop United flight from New York to Chicago and an equally priced American Airlines flight.

Of the national sample of 1,975 adults, 79% who said they’d recently heard of United chose its competitor. Preferences were more evenly split among those who hadn’t heard about the airline lately, with 51% choosing American.

The poll then tacked inconveniences onto the American flight — a $66 price hike and a layover in Cleveland — before melding them into a third option. Forty-four percent of respondents who said they’d heard about United recently claimed they’d choose the more expensive American flight with a layover, according to the poll.

United has weathered a string of negative headlines in recent weeks, the most high-profile of which was Chicago aviation officers hauling 69-year-old David Dao off a Louisville-bound flight April 9 while horrified passengers filmed the chaos.

The doctor, who had refused a travel voucher incentive, was one of four passengers selected for removal to accommodate United workers who needed to be in Louisville for a flight.

CEO Oscar Munoz has apologized publicly to Dao, whose lawyer on Thursday said he’d sustained a broken nose and concussion and would likely bring a lawsuit against United. The airline announced on Friday that it would require staff to check in 60 minutes before take-off time.

“This ensures situations like flight 3411 never happen again,” a spokesperson told CNN in a statement. “This is one of our initial steps in a review of our policies in order to deliver the best customer experience.”

Rival airlines have also announced policy changes in recent days: Delta, in an internal memo obtained by the AP, told supervisors they could offer passengers up to $9,950 to surrender seats on overbooked flights. American Airlines’ conditions of carriage say it won’t involuntarily remove passengers who’ve already boarded to seat a different customer.



By Meera Jagannathan.
Culled from MSN News.