Overbooked United Flight Ends in “Shaky and Disgusting” Ejection
Joe Cortez April 10, 2017
Doctor forced off by security workers after refusing to give up seat on full flight.
United Airlines president and chief executive Oscar Munoz has promised an investigation with “a sense of urgency” after a flyer headed to Louisville, Kentucky was forcefully removed from his seat by three alleged police officers after he refused to yield his seat on an overbooked flight. A video posted to Facebook and later verified by the carrier detailed the situation that took place on Sunday, April 9.
United Flight 3411 was scheduled to take off around 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday, but was ultimately overbooked. According to witnesses who spoke to the Louisville Courier-Journal, gate agents at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) initially told flyers the flight would be overbooked and were seeking volunteers to give up their seats in exchange for a $400 travel voucher and a free hotel night stay. None of the individuals accepted the offer and the airline continued to board the aircraft.
After boarding was complete, witnesses say that another gate agent used the aircraft intercom to inform passengers they were seeking four volunteers to give up their seats to accommodate four crew members who were scheduled to work in Louisville the next day. Nobody accepted the offer of an $800 travel voucher in this situation. The problem was escalated to the point where a computer program was utilized to randomly pick four individuals to be involuntarily denied boarding. The individuals selected included a couple, followed by the individual captured on video.
Witnesses told the newspaper the male, who has not yet been identified, told the three individuals who wore jackets identifying themselves a police that he was a doctor who had to be in Louisville on Monday to see patients. As a result, the individual would not give up his seat. After a brief exchange, the three men forcefully pulled the individual out of the chair and dragged him off the aircraft.
Please share this video. We are on this flight. United airlines overbooked the flight. They randomly selected people to kick off so their crew could have a seat. This man is a doctor and has to be at the hospital in the morning. He did not want to get off. We are all shaky and so disgusted. #unitedairways -To use this video in a commercial player or in broadcasts, please email licensing@storyful.com-
Posted by Audra D. Bridges on Sunday, April 9, 2017
The witness who posted the Facebook video described the demeanor of other passengers immediately afterwards as “…shaky and so disgusted.” A second video posted to Twitter shows a different angle of the same incident.
@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 the incident, a spokesperson for United confirmed to the media that law enforcement was called in after the individual refused to leave his seat. Additionally, the airline “apologized for the overbook situation,” promising more details later. Additional details came from Munoz, who issued a statement noting that United would continue to investigate and reach out to the passenger to resolve the situation.
United CEO response to United Express Flight 3411. pic.twitter.com/rF5gNIvVd0
— United (@united) April 10, 2017
Neither the Chicago Police Department nor the Chicago Department of Aviation have commented publicly about the situation.
The gaffe was United’s second major social media embarrassment in less than a month. Earlier in March 2017, the airline was called out by several celebrities and frequent flyers over their decision to bar a girl wearing leggings while flying on a “buddy pass” from boarding her aircraft.
[Photo: Shutterstock]
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The legality of what happened makes this a tragedy for all. Republic employees weren't aware of United's ticket rules, and a customer shouldn't be so stubborn as to not ask for another flight or just a full refund and make their own way. The police using force was the third strike that made this scenario just shameful. I recently flew on American where a plane was downsized. I had actually booked a first class seat and found myself in the 'trunk' of a single-class airline. I wasn't too happy about it, and was assured that I'll get a refund for the difference in fare (which I haven't gotten yet). The way this situation was handled was that 10 volunteers were asked for, and then the airline continued asking until they had to make a decision. The decision was those that are last in boarding will be denied boarding, and will only be given the standard compensation versus the offer being given. That was enough incentive so they had enough volunteers, and although compensated passengers were angry, nothing got too out of hand. The second someone pulled out a phone to film anything, American shut that down and offered to get security involved if that wasn't stopped immediately, which I think is the right thing. I know if someone whips out a dslr camera in an airport they get shut down immediately, so I don't see why a camera phone should be any different.
This UA flight was NOT overbooked. If you want FTers to read these articles written 2+ days after the fact, it helps to report the facts. Reported over 15 hours ago: http://time.com/4735119/united-airlines-passenger-removed-not-overbooked/
as it appears the passenger did nothing wrong he had already boarded means to me that this was a 100% civil matter and to me. what the staff and all did was criminal they did not even check to see if was disabled or had other major issues. More than poor judgement. Stand behind an illegal rule. go to jail.
complete disgusting this video of passenger being dragged off plane shame on this company for over booking taking people money
CNN has just announced that because of the actions of the stupid United ground staff in ORD yesterday, United has lost one (1) BILLION of its market capitalization. Time to re-think this PR disaster and tell the CEO to stop doubling down by saying, "we followed procedure." The YouTube video has been seen by over 17 million viewers.