United Airlines' pilots union just likely added fuel to the fire over the incident in which a 69-year old passenger was dragged from a plane
The airline's Master Executive Council union released a statement Friday - five days after the fact, just as the furor was starting to subside - saying that its pilots were "infuriated" by what happened on Sunday night when Dr. David Dao was bloodied and forcibly removed from a flight after refusing to give up his seat when he was involuntarily bumped.
But the statement seemingly distanced United's pilots from the incident while throwing two key entities under the bus - United's subsidiary regional carrier, Republic Airlines (which actually operated the Chicago to Louisville flight upon which the incident took place), and the Chicago Department of Aviation Police (which actually dragged the man off the plane).
The union said that "United pilots are infuriated by this event" but quickly noted, "this occurred on one of our contracted Express carriers, separately owned and operated by Republic Airline and was ultimately caused by the grossly inappropriate response by the Chicago Department of Aviation."
The statement made a point-by-point "review of baseline facts," including:
* No United employees were involved in the physical altercation
* Social media ire should properly be directed at the Chicago Aviation Department
* This occurred on an Express flight operated by Republic Airline, as such, the flight crew and cabin crew of Flight 3411 are employees of Republic Airline, not United Airlines
The union did note that "the Republic flight crew was courteous and calm throughout the event," but continued to pound the Aviation police.
[READMORE]READ MORE: Read The Full Statement Here [/READMORE]
Judge for yourself.
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