OK, I want to wrap this up as much as you do. But I said that if I received any statement from United Airlines about a flight that was diverted to Chicago because of an onboard dispute, I would give prominent display to whatever the company said. Background on the dispute, from the family that was removed from the plane, is here. I've just received a reply from United, which I now pass along without comment and in full:
Hi James,
Megan [McCarthy, United's managing director for external communications] mentioned that you reached out to us earlier this week for a statement. Here's what I can offer you on this matter. Again, apologies for missing your initial request. Response below:
United flight 638 from Denver to Baltimore diverted to Chicago O'Hare after the crew reported a disturbance involving a passenger. The flight landed without incident and the customers were removed from the flight. We reaccommodated the customers on the next flight to Baltimore and have since conducted a full review of our inflight entertainment.
Many thanks,
Charles Hobart
Spokesman, Public Relations
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James Fallows is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and has written for the magazine since the late 1970s. He has reported extensively from outside the United States and once worked as President Carter's chief speechwriter. He and his wife, Deborah Fallows, are the authors of the new book Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey Into the Heart of America, which has been a New York Times best-seller and is the basis of a forthcoming HBO documentary.