United to offer fliers up to $10,000 to surrender seats

United Airlines said on Thursday it would offer passengers who volunteer to forfeit their seats on overbooked flights up to $10,000 as part of the carrier's efforts to repair the damage from the rough removal of a passenger. The offer came after rival Delta outlined plans to offer up to $9,950 in such cases. United also said it would take actions to reduce overbooking flights and improve customer satisfaction. "Our goal is to reduce incidents of involuntary denial of boarding to as close to zero as possible and become a more customer-focused airline," the carrier said in the statement. United had spent the last two weeks embroiled in controversy after videos recorded by fellow passengers, which went viral, showed David Dao, 69, yanked from his seat aboard a Louisville, Kentucky-bound United flight before takeoff from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport to make room for crew members.