United Says It Has Reached A Settlement With Dr. David Dao

Southwest Airlines will no longer oversell flights, according to the company CEO.

USA Today reports that, during a discussion of company earnings on CNBC, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly (pictured) said that the carrier has been taking steps "for the last several years" to prepare for ending the practice of overbooking flights. Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King confirmed to USA Today that the plan could go into effect as early as May 8.

King said is a statement to the paper that the carrier has greatly improved its forecasting tools and techniques, and will be implementing a new reservation system on May 9. She said the carry will "no longer have a need to overbook as part of the revenue management inventory process."

King did caution that there might still in some instances be more passengers than seats due to occasional "operational challenges." But, she said, it will happen "much less frequently."

Kelly told CNBC that he would only speak for Southwest, and that other carriers would make their own decisions about overbooking. Southwest, he said, already only occasionally overbooks a flight.

Meanwhile, in an update to the incident that led to all the talk of overbooked flights, United says it has reached an agreement with Dr. David Dao, the passenger who was now famously dragged screaming off a United flight in Chicago earlier this month. In a statement released to the media, United said: 'We are pleased to report that United and Dr. Dao have reached an amicable resolution of the unfortunate incident that occurred aboard flight 3411. We look forward to implementing the improvements we have announced, which will put our customers at the center of everything we do."

The carrier did not give any details of its agreement with Dr. Dao.

(Images from file)

FMI: www.southwest.com, www.united.com