In a tweet, the company quoted United Airlines President and CEO Oscar Munoz — fresh off of a terribly tone-deaf statement about the passenger ejection incident — who had taken a dig at “those [gulf] airlines,” which includes Emirates:

It’s a much more clear-headed approach than the knee-jerk trolling of Royal Jordanian, but it’s also an incredibly bold move to steal a competitors tagline and basically make it your own. Dr. David Dao, 69, was on a full jet that was scheduled to fly from O’Hare Airport in Chicago to Louisville, Kentucky on Sunday night when he and three other passengers were ordered off the plane to make room for some employees of a partner airline. While I deeply regret this situation arose, I also emphatically stand behind all of you.”

United Airlines’ first statement was posted on Monday, apologizing for having to “re-accommodate these customers,” and then calling the unfortunate incident an “upsetting event.”

“This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United,” Munoz said. He described the removal by airport police as “truly horrific.”

Munoz is scrambling to contain the damage to the carrier’s reputation and vowed to reassess policies for seeking volunteers to give up their seats, for handling oversold flights and for partnering with airport authorities.
United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz issues an apology for the removal of a passenger from an overbooked flight on April 9, which has since gone viral. United Airlines stock drops more than 4%, a loss of £800 million to the company's value.