United Airlines were filmed ejecting a doctor from an overbooked flight by violently pulling him from his seat and physically dragging him along the aisle.
The footage, recorded by another passenger, shows the horrific lengths that the airport security went to after the doctor refused to leave as he was ‘trying to get to work’.
People on Twitter and Reddit are outraged at United’s actions, and there are reports the man was dragged off the plane to make space for an employee.
@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
Audra Bridges, who was on the flight, wrote on Facebook:
Please share this video. We are on this flight. United airlines overbooked the flight. They randomly selected people to kick off so their standby 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
That's some terrible PR, @UnitedAirlines. How about not dragging people off planes so that employees can take the seat? #dontflyunited
— Zachary Inman ?? (@InmanDO) April 10, 2017
Reddit user eman00619 explained:
Passengers were told at the gate that the flight was overbooked and United, offering $400 and a hotel stay, was looking for one volunteer to take another flight to Louisville at 3 p.m. Monday.
Passengers were allowed to board the flight, Bridges said, and once the flight was filled those on the plane were told that four people needed to give up their seats to stand-by United employees that needed to be in Louisville on Monday for a flight.
Passengers were told that the flight would not take off until the United crew had seats, Bridges said, and the offer was increased to $800, but no one volunteered.
Then, she said, a manager came aboard the plane and said a computer would select four people to be taken off the flight. One couple was selected first and left the airplane, she said, before the man in the video was confronted.
#UnitedAirlines Shame on you. Thank goodness this was caught on video.
— Debashri M Dutta (@debashri) April 10, 2017
The public are predicting a large lawsuit against the airline who labeled the video as ‘concerning’ on Twitter.
United Airlines said in a statement that the flight was overbooked and ‘after our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate’.
They did not comment on the violence used on the aircraft which was unacceptable under any circumstances.
