United chief met Chinese officials over dragged passenger

The head of United met with the Chinese consulate in Chicago over the possible impact to bookings from a customer being dragged off a plane but it was too early to tell if business in China had been hit by the event, the company said. In the carrier's Q1 earnings call, United again apologised repeatedly for the incident in which Dr. David Dao was dragged from his seat on a United flight to make room for crew members. Dao accused officials of discriminating against him for being Chinese before he was hauled off the plane, according to a fellow passenger. Social media users across the United States, Vietnam and China called for a boycott of the airline over the incident. United has about 20% of total US-China traffic and a partnership with Air China, the country's third-largest airline. "It's really too early for us to tell anything about bookings, and in particular last week because it's the week before Easter. That's normally a very low booking period," United President Scott Kirby said. On the call, CEO Oscar Munoz said he would have "further conversations with customers and related governmental officials" in an upcoming trip to China that had been planned prior to the incident. United did not say when Munoz met with the Chinese consulate officials.<br/>