Emirates tells red-faced United, ‘we’re now the friendly skies’

Bloomberg

Middle Eastern carriers seized on the social media storm surrounding the forced removal of a passenger from a United Airlines flight to hit back at one of the arch-critics of their breakneck expansion.
Dubai-based Emirates mocked United’s best-known advertising slogan on its Twitter account, urging passengers to “fly the friendly skies with a real airline.” Royal Jordanian Airlines joined in with a pun on the man being dragged from the plane, while Turkish Airlines pointed out that it last week added an extra passenger to one of its flights after a baby was born on board.
While most airlines steered clear of commenting on the United debacle, the US giant’s embarrassment over the removal of the man to make way for one of its employees was too good an opportunity to miss for Mideast operators subject to years of gibes over the part played by state funding in their success story.
The Emirates tweet includes a video mocking United Chief Executive Officer Oscar Munoz’s suggestion this year that Gulf carriers ‘aren’t real airlines’ by highlighting its Tripadvisor ranking as the world’s best carrier in 2017. The post ends with the punchline: ‘Fly the friendly skies… this time for real.’

No Dragging
Royal Jordanian’s anti-United tweet shows a picture of a no-smoking sign on one of its aircraft along with the message: “We would like to remind you that drags on our flights are strictly prohibited by passengers — and crew.”
Turkish Air, like Royal Jordanian impacted by the recent U.S. laptops ban, re-tweeted a message from Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington commenting: “Instead of involuntarily removing a passenger, Turkish Air assists in involuntarily adding one.” That’s after a girl was born last Friday on the carrier’s flight between Guinea and Burkina Faso.
United Continental Holdings Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and American Airlines Grouphave accused Emirates, Etihad Airways PJSC and Qatar Airways of competing unfairly in global markets with the help of more than $40 billion in illegal government subsidies, something the Gulf carriers deny.
The US operators recently urged President Donald Trump to curb flying rights for their rivals. Tensions have ratcheted up further with an attempted ban on citizens of six Muslim-majority countries entering America, together with a bar on passengers carrying large electronic devices aboard U.S.-bound flights from certain airports in the Middle East and North Africa.
United’s Munoz on Tuesday issued a second apology for Sunday’s incident in Chicago, in which the ejected passenger, David Dao, was left bloodied and dazed, saying that “no one should ever be mistreated this way,” and promising a review of his airline’s procedures to be completed by April 30.
The CEO had earlier apologized only for
having to re-accommodate customers, labeling Dao, who received hospital treatment,
“disruptive” and “belligerent.”