United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz apologized again on Thursday for his company's forcible removal of Dr. David Dao earlier this month, blaming "a system failure" in an interview with NBC News.
"We breached public trust, and it's a serious breach," Munoz said. He added that "a circumstance like we've all witnessed should have never happened, never happened," and that United would reduce overbooking, better train its workers and up the amount given to passengers willing to give up their seat to $10,000.
"We're going to teach and broaden sort of the cultural impact of respect and dignity, regardless of where you're sitting," he said. "And that's why we've said — once you've boarded an aircraft, we're not going to take you off, except for safety and security," according to NPR.
On Wednesday, Munoz sent a letter to senators promising that his company would "empower its personnel to make decisions and find solutions that make sense for both customers and employees," and that it will no longer "require customers seated on the plane to give up their seat involuntarily unless safety or security is at risk."
Munoz said United's practices put both the crew, the passengers and law enforcement in "impossible situations," and said the company has "got to stop from doing that."
He also said, "Do I believe what the law enforcement folks did was wrong? Yeah," and said the incident taught him an important lesson: "You forget sometimes that the people you're carrying are human."
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