Group Assignment-Term 4: Services Marketing
Group Assignment-Term 4: Services Marketing
Group Assignment-Term 4: Services Marketing
1) Natarajan. S- XP21010
2) Praveen Sharma- XP21009
3) Kulwant Singh- XP21004
4) Manikandan. S- XP21003
5) Kanishka V- XP21024
6) Seejoe George- XP21030
1. Complete a root cause analysis to identify the problems associated with
the service failure in United Airlines flight 3411
On the day of the event, United Airlines flight 3411 needed to fly four of its
staff members to a connecting destination and needed four passengers to be
moved to another flight to free up the seats. After boarding the flight, the
crew announced that they wanted four passengers to leave the flight
voluntarily and offered $400 vouchers for future travel on United, a hotel
stay, and a seat on a plane leaving more than 21 hours later. When there
were no takers, United’s crew raised the offer to $800 as compensation, but
no passenger was willing to deplane. The airline then announced to the
passengers that a computer algorithm would randomly select four
passengers to leave the flight exempting frequent fliers and high fare-paying
passengers. So, the airline decided to disembark four random passengers
and forcibly drag out a passenger who refused. One of the four randomly
selected passengers was a 69-year old doctor who refused to deplane
because he needed to attend several patient appointments the following
day. When the doctor refused to leave, the Chicago aviation officer forcibly
dragged him out of the aircraft, leaving him bloodied and bruised. The
footage recorded by co-passengers went viral on social media. The company
remained mostly unresponsive for two days after the incident. Social Media
uproar led to Oscar Munoz, United’s chief officer, issuing an apology.
According to the DOT, the airline was within the law to involuntarily move
the passenger to another flight in case of overbooking and allowed Airlines
to determine their own fair boarding priority lists. United admitted and
apologised for the overbooking flight 3411 which led to the forcible removal
of the passenger. The Chicago Department of Aviation later announced that
the officer involved in the incident was suspended since he failed to follow
standard operating procedures.
Oscar Munoz, United’s chief executive officer, should promptly talk directly
with the passenger and issue a press release personally apologising for the
incident taking full responsibility by being sensitive to the issue and show a
willingness to rectify the problem. In addition, United should offer a just
monetary compensation to the passenger due to the gravity of the incident.