Sigh, so many comments from people who haven't worked a day in their life as a gate agent.

United Dispatch could have very well called up at the last minute and said "We have 4 must-ride crew members that have to get on, you will have to pull off 4 people for them." Thusly why the gate agents may have had to take people off who boarded. The flight does not go til the crew is on... so they need to act fast to get the plane out.

They have specific protocol for who gets IDB. When you get IDB, you get compensated depending on how long you are delayed arriving home. If that pax was given reasonable accommodation within an hour or two, nothing is given, but after a time they get paid an actual check for their inconvenience. It's very possible that guy could get a $1400 dollar check a hotel and a flight out early the next day.

Not to mention it wasn;t United Employees dragging him out, it was security. When UA tells you that you have to get off, you have to get off. If they explained it many times like they claim, then he was refusing to obey instructions from an airline on their own aircraft. It is THEIR aircraft. Could security possibly handled it better? Sure, but they probably had been going around in circles with the guy who was refusing. Not to mention police gave him an order many times, he refused to listen. That's what happens in life when you refuse to obey police orders/

This is just another case of the general public who doesn't know crap about working for an airline or the rules of the airline, reacting. Is it an unfortunate scenario that could have been handled better by all sides? Yes. Still, people comment get outraged about stuff they have no true idea about.