美聯航CEO誓言不再驅離乘客

United Continental’s chief executive has promised the airline will never again eject a passenger who has paid for a ticket and is already seated, as the company sought to draw a line under a public relations crisis that has damaged its reputation from the US to China.

聯合大陸(United Continental)承諾美聯航將永不再驅離支付機票並已經就座的乘客，該公司力求告別這場已傷害到其在美國和中國聲譽的公關危機。

Oscar Munoz told ABC’s Good Morning America television programme on Wednesday: “This can, this will, never happen again on a United Airlines flight. That’s my premise, that’s my promise.”

週三，奧斯卡?穆諾茲(Oscar Munoz)對美國廣播公司(ABC)《早安美國》(Good Morning America)節目表示：“美聯航的航班上再也不能，不會發生這種事。這是我的前提，這是我的承諾。”

He said the use of law enforcement on board an aircraft had to be looked at very carefully. But he said: “We’re not going to put a law enforcement official to take them off the aircraft. To remove a booked, paid, seating passenger? We can’t do that”.

他說，在機上進行執法必須經過非常慎重的考慮。但他表示：“我們不會再讓執法人員把他們帶離飛機。驅離一個已經預訂並支付機票，且已經就座的乘客？我們不能這麼做。”

The comments follow earlier attempts by the company to defend the actions of staff over the incident, which went viral on social media, in which a screaming Asian-American doctor was injured as he was dragged off an overbooked flight.

一名亞裔美國醫生尖叫着被拖離一架超量預訂的航班，還因此受傷，此事在社交媒體上引起熱議。美聯航早前曾試圖捍衛此次事件中員工的行爲。

Mr Munoz told ABC he felt “shame and embarrassment” at the way the man had been treated. This was the fourth significant statement from the carrier since Sunday as United has struggled to find the right tone to defuse anger over the incident, which has attracted comment from the White House.

穆諾茲對美國廣播公司表示，他爲這位男士所受到的待遇感到“恥辱和尷尬”。這是美聯航自上週日以來作出的第四份重大聲明，該航空公司力求尋找合適基調來平息這起事件引發的憤怒，此事已引起白宮的評論。

In the interview, Mr Munoz said he would not resign as chief executive. “I was hired to make United better and we’ve been doing that and that’s what I’ll continue to do,” he said.

穆諾茲在接受採訪時表示不會辭去首席執行官職務。他說：“我受僱是爲了讓美聯航變得更好，而且我們一直爲此努力，這也是我要繼續做的事情。”

Mr Munoz blamed the incident on “system failure”. He explained that passengers are encouraged to take cash compensation for vacating their seats when planes are over-booked. He said: “There is an incentive programme that works really pretty well outside of the [boarding] gate. Clearly, when you get into an aeroplane, and you’re boarded, and luggaged and situated, your incentive model needs to change and I think that’s one of the policies we’ll look at.”

穆諾茲將這起事件歸咎於“系統故障”。他解釋說當飛機超量預訂時，乘客被鼓勵收取現金補償以讓出他們的座位。他說：“有個激勵計劃在（登機）門外運行得很好。顯然，當你進入一架飛機，而且你已經登機，放好行李並坐在座位上，你的激勵模式需要改變，我認爲這是我們要考慮的政策之一。”

He added: “We do empower our frontline folks to a degree, but we need to expand and adjust those policies to allow a little bit more common sense.”

他還表示：“我們賦予了一線工作人員一定權力，但我們需要擴大和調整這些政策，爲常識留出更大空間。”

When asked if the passenger, David Dao, was in any way to blame, Mr Munoz paused before saying: “No. He can’t be. He was a paying passenger sitting on our seat in our aircraft and no one should be treated that way. Period.”

在被問及這位名叫David Dao的乘客對此事負有何種責任時，穆諾茲停頓了一下然後說：“不，他沒有責任。他是坐在我們飛機座位上的一名付費乘客，沒有人應該被這樣對待。就是這樣。”