美聯航爭議事件升級 CEO言論招致多方譴責

The United Continental row deepened yesterday as the airline’s chief executive sparked further anger by defending the actions of staff after a screaming and injured male passenger was forcibly removed from an overbooked flight.

聯合大陸(United Continental)爭議事件昨日升級，在一名受傷的男性乘客尖叫著被強行拖離超量預訂的航班後，這家航空公司的執行長因維護員工的行動而進一步激發眾怒。

United came under fire from US politicians, with one senior lawmaker calling for a hearing, while damage to the carrier’s reputation spread to China. The incident was the most popular topic on Weibo, the country’s Twitter, with more than 100m views.

美聯航遭到美國政界人士抨擊，一位資深立法者呼籲舉行聽證會，而這家航空公司聲譽上的損害也蔓延到中國。該事件成為微博（中國的Twitter）最熱門的話題，閱讀量高達4.7億。

Chinese social media users called for a boycott of the airline, accusing it of discriminating against the passenger based on his ethnicity, which United denies.

中國社交媒體使用者呼籲抵制美聯航，指責該公司基於這名乘客的種族對他區別對待，美聯航予以否認。

The incident is the second public relations disaster to hit the group inside a month. In March, two teenage girls were told they could not board a United flight because they were wearing leggings.

該事件是美聯航在一個月內遭遇的第二起公關危機。3月份，兩名十幾歲的少女被告知由於穿著緊身褲而不能登上美聯航班機。

In a letter to United employees about the forcible removal of the passenger from a flight on Sunday, chief executive Oscar Munoz said airline staff “followed established procedures for dealing with situations like this”.

美聯航執行長奧斯卡?穆諾茲(Oscar Munoz)就上週日這起乘客被強行拖離航班事件致信員工，他在信中表示空勤人員“遵照了處理此類情況的既定程式”。

He said: “While I deeply regret this situation arose, I also emphatically stand behind all of you, and I want to commend you for continuing to go above and beyond to ensure we fly right.”

他說：“雖然我對這種情況的出現深感遺憾，但我絕對支援你們所有人，我還要讚揚你們堅持卓越，以確保我們正確執行航班。”

His choice of words — which described the passenger as “disruptive and belligerent” — were widely lambasted.

他稱這名乘客“行為具有破壞性，而且好鬥”，這些用詞遭到廣泛譴責。

Dick Costolo, former chief executive of Twitter, said: “This is one of the most tone-deaf corporate emails ever sent, and I should know, because I sent some that are surely in the top 10.”

Twitter前執行長迪克?科斯托洛(Dick Costolo)表示：“這是迄今最不識時務的企業電子郵件之一，我應該知道這一點，因為我發的一些郵件肯定可以被列入前十名。”

John Bailey, a specialist in aviation crisis communications, said the “non-apology came across as legalistic, very cautious and not at all heartfelt”.

航空危機溝通專家約翰?貝利(John Bailey)表示這一“算不上道歉的表態讓人覺得死摳法律條文，非常謹慎，且一點兒也不誠懇。”

Yesterday, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, a senior member of the Transportation Committee and its subcommittee on aviation, said there should be a hearing on the “abusive removal” of the United passenger.

昨天美國眾議院交通委員會及其航空小組委員會資深成員、國會女議員埃莉諾?霍姆斯?諾頓(Eleanor Holmes Norton)表示，應該就這名美聯航乘客受到的“侮辱性離機”舉行聽證會。

Shares in United dropped 3.5 per cent to $68.97 by midday New York time.

紐約時間中午時分，美聯航股票下跌3.5%，至68.97美元。