United staff will no longer take seats of boarded passengers

United, which is reviewing its policies after the violent removal of a passenger from a flight last week, says it will no longer allow employees to take the place of civilian passengers who have already boarded overbooked flights. “We issued an updated policy to make sure crews traveling on our aircraft are booked at least 60 minutes prior to departure,” a spokeswoman, Maggie Schmerin, wrote in an email on Sunday. “This is one of our initial steps in a review of our policies.” Schmerin confirmed the validity of a memo dated April 14, which was published by TMZ, that ordered the new policy. She said the change was meant to ensure that episodes like what happened last week “never happen again.” She also emphasized a previously announced change that law enforcement officials would no longer be asked to remove passengers who do not pose immediate security threats. United is reviewing the circumstances that led to the forcible removal of Dr David Dao, of Kentucky, by Chicago aviation police officers on April 9. The company said it would share the findings of its review and any proposed reforms by the end of the month. After several days of uproar, the company’s chief executive, Oscar Munoz, apologized on “Good Morning America.” “This can never — will never — happen again on a United Airlines flight,” he said. “That’s my premise and that’s my promise.”<br/>