they absolutely needed to make the situation go away, but…they have now opened the flood gates.many sharks in the water now smell blood.
I honestly don’t think other cases are in any way comparable–concussion, teeth knocked out, bleeding from the head. That should NOT happen. Hopefully the goons who cause the harm are paying some of it personally. 
united will face all kinds of lawsuits now just to get a settlement they need not be on this scale or even legit.
the ceo of united today apologized for the bunny rabbit dying and it is national news.they are going to over compensate. they deserve to pay the guy who was dragged…but the flood gates are wide open.
Ceo of United just sent out a long email to MileagePlus members acknowledging their bad ways and promising to do better. Did not mention bunnies.
“We will increase incentives for voluntary rebooking up to $10,000 and will be eliminating the red tape on permanently lost bags with a new “no-questions-asked” $1,500 reimbursement policy. We will also be rolling out a new app for our employees that will enable them to provide on-the-spot goodwill gestures in the form of miles, travel credit and other amenities when your experience with us misses the mark. You can learn more about these commitments and many other changes at hub.united.com.”
Got that United Frequent Flyer email. I still don’t understand how Munoz is still CEO. Too many experiences of lack of “customer first”. For me, it’s too late until I hear that others are seeing a real difference. At best, United has been totally indifferent to me, their paying customer on my recent flights. I suspect they hope to srave off a Congressional hearing.
Today H called United to rebook a flight, and the agent asked him to pay a $200 service fee. “Really,” said H, “the original flight was $84, the new flight is $77, and you are asking me to pay $200 to rebook? Please contact your supervisor and ask him/her whether United needs more bad publicity.” It took them 10 seconds to wave the fee 
Airlines are so weird with their rebooking fee. I tried to go standby once on an earlier flight but AA wanted $200 so I passed. Then it turned out my original flight was overbooked so they were paying volunteers to give up their seats. So much the opposite of smart business sometimes with the airlines.
Yes, on United, generally only their platinum 100k miles/yr or more folks can swap delights the day of travel without penalty. They know folks will pay so they get them to pony up. If they made it a bit cheaper for flights that gave space, I think they’d have more takers.