CEO Oscar Munoz of United Airlines made a public apology on 11 April 2017 to appease the growing anger of netizens and disappointed investors. Airplane overbooking was a fairly common practice in the airline industry, but this case examines a specific incident that severely impacted the company’s reputation and image. Just two days ago, on 9 April, Flight 3411 to Louisville, passenger David Dao was forcefully removed from the plane, bruised and unconscious after refusing to voluntarily leave. Despite the mistreatment, Munoz wrongfully commended the crew through an email for handling the situation appropriately according to their operating procedures and was under fire for the lack of judgment and poor handling of the issue. Following this, he quickly pledged to release a comprehensive review and revise current measures to prevent a similar situation from happening. This case gives students insights into what the potential repercussions of the lack of employee empowerment can be like and thus invites them to consider ways to implement and prevent similar situations from occurring.