United Continental CEO Oscar Munoz, for a second day running, is being accused of an epic public-relations misstep. What a difference a few weeks makes. On March 17, Munoz was honored by the trade publication PR Week as its communicator of the year. It called him:

“ ‘An excellent leader who understands the value of PR.’ ” — PR Week

PR Week

PR Week credited Munoz with, even while in the midst of recovery from heart-transplant surgery, reversing a period of employee discontent at United UAL, +0.14% , reaching new union pacts and providing atypical media access. The magazine failed to anticipate the situation Munoz would find himself in this week, after a paying customer was forcefully evicted from his seat after refusing to be bumped voluntarily, an issue Munoz went on to compound by first referring insipidly to the “re-accommodation” of passengers on the Chicago-to-Louisville flight late Sunday and then lauding employees for handling the situation as they had, referencing the passenger’s belligerence.

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