, Columnist
United Is Feeling the Sway of Consumers in Asia
Ousting an Asian passenger isn't playing well in China. Investors think that matters more than Americans' opinions.
Will it play in Peoria? More importantly: Will it play in Shanghai?
Photographer: LIU JIN/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
On Monday -- Day 1 of the fiasco over United Airlines's forcible removal of a passenger from an overbooked flight -- the stock of United Continental Holdings Inc. actually rallied. Perhaps Americans were outraged by how the passenger was treated, but airlines operate in a consolidated industry where consumers don't have much choice. Investors seemed to shrug and assume that customers would still fly United anyway.
But an interesting thing happened on Day 2.