United Airlines is facing backlash, once again, after an incident over the weekend.
After a flight from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked, crews asked for volunteers to give up their seats.
When they couldn’t get enough volunteers, they asked a man to leave the aircraft, but he refused the request.
@United overbook #flight3411 and decided to force random passengers off the plane. Here's how they did it: pic.twitter.com/QfefM8X2cW
— Jayse D. Anspach (@JayseDavid) April 10, 2017
“After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily,” explained the statement from United. “Law enforcement was asked to come to the gate.”
The screaming man, a doctor, was physically dragged off the plane by police and security officers, while passengers looked on in disgust and disbelief.
@united @FoxNews @CNN not a good way to treat a Doctor trying to get to work because they overbooked pic.twitter.com/sj9oHk94Ik
— Tyler Bridges (@Tyler_Bridges) April 9, 2017
According to various sources, the man refused to leave the plane because he had patients to see that morning in Louisville.
United has rules about overbooking planes, saying that passengers may be denied boarding, but they say nothing about passengers being forcibly removed from a plane once they’ve already boarded.
Further video was posted to Twitter, showing that the bloodied and disoriented man was eventually allowed back onto the flight after a length delay.
@united @CNN @FoxNews @WHAS11 Man forcibly removed from plane somehow gets back on still bloody from being removed pic.twitter.com/njS3nC0pDl
— Tyler Bridges (@Tyler_Bridges) April 10, 2017
The series of events has resulted in a lot of public backlash towards the airline, who said in a statement that they “apologize for the overbook situation.”
It comes just two weeks after the airline refused to board two young girls travelling on employee passes because they were wearing leggings.
What has your experience been like with an overbooked flight? Let us know in the comments or by emailing us.
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