United Airlines Rapidly Losing Popularity

United Airlines' latest PR crisis involving a security official removing an unwilling passenger from a flight has been poorly-received by consumers, 53% of whom say they are less likely to continue purchasing tickets from United. The data comes from a recent survey conducted by Clutch, a B2B research company, which targeted 1,000 consumers in the US. According to the report, 52% of consumers say they do not believe United handled the situation correctly, influencing them to change their buying behavior in a way that weakens the United brand, Travel Daily News reported. Negative press coverage that companies generate seemingly has a direct impact on consumers' purchasing decisions. Clutch's survey finds that when considering a high-cost purchase, like a plane ticket, double the amount of consumers care about a company's presence in the news than they do when making low-cost purchases.