The public outcry over an incident where a passenger was dragged off a United Airlines flight may have subsided, but the company is still dealing with the reverberations.
On Monday it emerged that United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz requested not to receive a bonus to show “accountability and integrity.” Without the bonus, his compensation for 2017 will total $9.56 million—just over half what he earned in 2016. Chairman of the board Robert Milton also plans to step down, along with board member Laurence Simmons, who is a member of the oversight council.
United Airlines (UAL) stock fell sharply last April after the violent forcible ejection of a passenger named David Dao. The company’s public image also suffered in conjunction with the dragging incident and one a month earlier when two family members of United employees were prevented from boarding a plane because they were wearing leggings.
The airline’s 2018 doesn’t seem to be off to much of a better start. In March the company was forced to temporarily suspend reservations for pets after several were put on incorrect flights and one died after the owner was told to stow it in the overhead bin.
And yet so far this year, the company’s stock is outperforming that of at least two of its close competitors. United is up 4% for the year, while American Airlines (AAL) and Delta Air Lines (DAL) have lost 10% and 2.5%, respectively.
