The code to enter a plane’s cockpit from the outside is changed frequently, and someone inside the cockpit must also enter a code in response for the door to open. The airline maintains that the cockpit remained secure despite the mistake.
“The safety of our customers and crew is our top priority and United utilizes a number of measures to keep our flight decks secure beyond door access information,” United Airlines spokesperson Maddie King said in a statement to KCAL. “In the interim, this protocol ensures our cockpits remain secure.”
On Saturday, the airline emailed their pilots to alert them to the fact that "flight deck access procedures may have been compromised,” though no delays or flight cancellations were reported.
United has been under severe public scrutiny since April 9, when a video of 69-year-old Dr. David Dao being violently dragged from his flight after the airline overbooked tickets sparked global outrage.
Dao was brutalized while attempting to fly from O'Hare International Airport to Louisville, Kentucky, in an incident that was caught on video that immediately went viral. The doctor, a paying customer, had been told he was being removed from the flight to make room for crew members who needed to board. When Dao refused to leave the plane, he was violently dragged off by his wrists.
Meanwhile, United is also facing a lawsuit over the death of Simon the Rabbit, a massive hare that was on track to become the largest in the world.
The 10-month-old, three-foot-long giant rabbit Simon was travelling from London’s Heathrow to Chicago’s O'Hare International Airport on April 19, where he was found dead. Just three hours before the flight, a vet had declared him “fit as a fiddle.”
Lawyers for the owners believe that the rabbit died after being placed in a freezer for 16 hours, and have alleged that the airline cremated the animal’s remains without permission.
