United Airlines Escorts Doctor off Plane
A man claiming to be a doctor was dragged off a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Louisville April 9. The incident happened because of the man did not want to give up his seat on the overbooked flight.
“United airlines overbooked the flight,” Audra Bridges, a passenger that witnessed and recorded the incident, wrote in a Facebook post, along with a video of incident according to AOL News. “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.” Bridges continued in regards to the incident, “He did not want to get off. We are all shaky and so disgusted.”
The video posted online showed the man yelling as he was being grabbed by security and pulled out his chair causing his head to hit an armrest, as reported by The Huffington Post. He was then dragged down the aisle on his back as other passengers recorded, one woman in a video yelled “My God, what are you doing? No, this is wrong!” She continued. “Oh my God look at what you did to him! Oh my God!”
The company, after realizing their mistake, attempted to fix it by offering 400 dollars and a night at a hotel to anyone who would take a later flight, according to what Bridges told the Louisville Courier-Journal. When no one volunteer the price rose to 800 dollars along with the free night at a hotel, still no one would offer up their seat. After that it was announced by staff that the computer would be selecting four random people to leave, two people left before the struggle with the man occurred.
“After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate,” a spokesperson for United said in a statement as reported by AOL News.
Since the incident the CEO of United Airlines released a statement calling the event upsetting. “I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers. Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened,” United CEO Oscar Munoz said in a statement released April 10. Munoz said the airline is trying to reach the passenger to “further address and resolve this situation.”