<header class="row_article article-header article_max" style="box-sizing: inherit; position: relative; max-width: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border-top: none; padding-top: 1.125em; margin-bottom: 1.125em;">United Airlines CEO Apologizes After Video Shows Man Dragged Off Flight
by DANIELLA SILVA and KURT CHIRBAS
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The CEO of United Airlines apologized to customers on Monday following an incident on an overbooked flight where video appeared to show an elderly man being dragged from his seat and through the aisle of a plane.
Several videos posted on social media appeared to show three law enforcement officers pull a screaming man from his seat on the plane and then drag him by the arms down the aisle as shocked passengers look on. A witness told NBC News the ordeal began after the airline said the flight was overbooked and asked four customers to leave the plane and take a flight the following day.
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Man Dragged Off Overbooked Flight After Refusing to Give up Seat 1:14
"This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United," CEO Oscar Munoz said in a statement. "I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers. Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened."
"We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly to him and further address and resolve this situation," he added in the statement.
The Chicago Department of Aviation said in a statement Monday afternoon that the incident was "not in accordance with" standard operating procedure and the officer's actions were "not condoned" by the department. The officer involved was placed on administrative leave effective Monday pending review of the situation, the department said.
The Chicago Police Department said in a statement earlier Monday that around 6 p.m. on Sunday, a 69-year-old passenger "became irate" after he was asked to leave the plane.
"The passenger in question began yelling to voice his displeasure at which point Aviation Police were summoned," police said in the statement.
<figure class="img_half" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 1.125em 1.125em 0px; float: left; width: 292px;">
<figcaption class="img-caption img-caption_default no-margin-bottom" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(89, 89, 89); max-width: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0.47461em; font-size: 0.79012em; line-height: 1.42383; margin-bottom: 0px !important;">A man wearing a security jacket stands in the aisle before a United Airlines passenger is forcibly removed from a plane at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on Sunday, April 9, 2017. Tyler Bridges / Twitter</figcaption>
</figure>Police claimed the officers were attempting to carry the man off the flight "when he fell."
"His head subsequently struck an armrest causing injuries to his face," police said, adding that the man was taken to a hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries. An investigation into the incident was still ongoing.
Multiple attempts to reach the Department of Aviation for comment were not immediately returned.
Tyler Bridges, who posted video of the incident on Twitter, told NBC News he and his wife were on the United plane at O'Hare International Airport from Chicago to Louisville on Sunday when a flight attendant said the flight was overbooked and four people would have to leave to make room for airline employees.
Bridges said the flight attendant offered an $800 voucher for anyone who would volunteer to get off the flight and leave the following day at 3 p.m.
"Nobody moved, nobody got up," he said.
When no one volunteered, Bridges said, a gate agent told them the airline had used an algorithm to randomly select four people to get off the plane.
First, a young couple was asked to leave and, "they're not happy, but they get off. No problem," Bridges said.
Then the unidentified man in the video was asked to leave, Bridges said.
"He says he's a doctor and has to be in Louisville in the morning to see patients," he said. "He says he can't be delayed a day."
The agent then said if the man did not leave, she was going to call security, according to Bridges.
Related: Internet Erupts After United Airlines Boots Girls for Wearing Leggings
The man refused, prompting a verbal exchange with law enforcement officers, Bridges said.
One of them "walks down the aisle and starts yelling at the man. He grabs him, throws him out of his seat and they drag him off," Bridges said.
"Everyone is disturbed," Bridges said. "It was kind of a dramatic scene."
After the man was dragged away, the four United employees boarded the flight, he said.
But a few minutes later, the man who was removed from the flight ran back on the plane, saying he needed to get back home.
"Somehow he got back on," Bridges said. "He runs back on — dazed, bloodied, kind of in a mess — yelling 'I have to get home, I have to get home.'"
The man was removed on a stretcher, "resisting the whole time," Bridges said.
It was unclear how the man returned to the plane and what happened after he was removed.
United confirmed in a statement late Sunday that a passenger was removed from the overbooked flight.
"Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked. After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate," the company said in a statement.
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The company apologized for the overbooking situation and referred additional comment to authorities.
Bridges said passengers felt the man had been wronged.
"Airlines overbook flights all the time — that's not uncommon," Bridges said. "But everyone felt that they had wronged the man."
The flight was delayed three hours as a result of the incident, he added.
The incident comes just two weeks after United faced a public relations storm after two girls who were traveling as family or friends of airline employees were denied entry on a flight for wearing leggings.
by DANIELLA SILVA and KURT CHIRBAS
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The CEO of United Airlines apologized to customers on Monday following an incident on an overbooked flight where video appeared to show an elderly man being dragged from his seat and through the aisle of a plane.
Several videos posted on social media appeared to show three law enforcement officers pull a screaming man from his seat on the plane and then drag him by the arms down the aisle as shocked passengers look on. A witness told NBC News the ordeal began after the airline said the flight was overbooked and asked four customers to leave the plane and take a flight the following day.
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Man Dragged Off Overbooked Flight After Refusing to Give up Seat 1:14
"This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United," CEO Oscar Munoz said in a statement. "I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers. Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened."
"We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly to him and further address and resolve this situation," he added in the statement.
The Chicago Department of Aviation said in a statement Monday afternoon that the incident was "not in accordance with" standard operating procedure and the officer's actions were "not condoned" by the department. The officer involved was placed on administrative leave effective Monday pending review of the situation, the department said.
The Chicago Police Department said in a statement earlier Monday that around 6 p.m. on Sunday, a 69-year-old passenger "became irate" after he was asked to leave the plane.
"The passenger in question began yelling to voice his displeasure at which point Aviation Police were summoned," police said in the statement.
<figure class="img_half" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 1.125em 1.125em 0px; float: left; width: 292px;">
<figcaption class="img-caption img-caption_default no-margin-bottom" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(89, 89, 89); max-width: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0.47461em; font-size: 0.79012em; line-height: 1.42383; margin-bottom: 0px !important;">A man wearing a security jacket stands in the aisle before a United Airlines passenger is forcibly removed from a plane at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on Sunday, April 9, 2017. Tyler Bridges / Twitter</figcaption></figure>Police claimed the officers were attempting to carry the man off the flight "when he fell."
"His head subsequently struck an armrest causing injuries to his face," police said, adding that the man was taken to a hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries. An investigation into the incident was still ongoing.
Multiple attempts to reach the Department of Aviation for comment were not immediately returned.
Tyler Bridges, who posted video of the incident on Twitter, told NBC News he and his wife were on the United plane at O'Hare International Airport from Chicago to Louisville on Sunday when a flight attendant said the flight was overbooked and four people would have to leave to make room for airline employees.
Bridges said the flight attendant offered an $800 voucher for anyone who would volunteer to get off the flight and leave the following day at 3 p.m.
"Nobody moved, nobody got up," he said.
When no one volunteered, Bridges said, a gate agent told them the airline had used an algorithm to randomly select four people to get off the plane.
First, a young couple was asked to leave and, "they're not happy, but they get off. No problem," Bridges said.
Then the unidentified man in the video was asked to leave, Bridges said.
"He says he's a doctor and has to be in Louisville in the morning to see patients," he said. "He says he can't be delayed a day."
The agent then said if the man did not leave, she was going to call security, according to Bridges.
Related: Internet Erupts After United Airlines Boots Girls for Wearing Leggings
The man refused, prompting a verbal exchange with law enforcement officers, Bridges said.
One of them "walks down the aisle and starts yelling at the man. He grabs him, throws him out of his seat and they drag him off," Bridges said.
"Everyone is disturbed," Bridges said. "It was kind of a dramatic scene."
After the man was dragged away, the four United employees boarded the flight, he said.
But a few minutes later, the man who was removed from the flight ran back on the plane, saying he needed to get back home.
"Somehow he got back on," Bridges said. "He runs back on — dazed, bloodied, kind of in a mess — yelling 'I have to get home, I have to get home.'"
The man was removed on a stretcher, "resisting the whole time," Bridges said.
It was unclear how the man returned to the plane and what happened after he was removed.
United confirmed in a statement late Sunday that a passenger was removed from the overbooked flight.
"Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked. After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate," the company said in a statement.
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The company apologized for the overbooking situation and referred additional comment to authorities.
Bridges said passengers felt the man had been wronged.
"Airlines overbook flights all the time — that's not uncommon," Bridges said. "But everyone felt that they had wronged the man."
The flight was delayed three hours as a result of the incident, he added.
The incident comes just two weeks after United faced a public relations storm after two girls who were traveling as family or friends of airline employees were denied entry on a flight for wearing leggings.
What I want to see if it will come out, and any decent reporter (not many left though) would investigate, is who those 4 employees were. The staff to fly the plane IS NOT sitting in those seats, they all have their own seats. So they were making this room for employee/pilots to fly for free, which are suppose to be on standby. Seems as if any good company would offer employee's a free flight, but not at the mercy of a paying customer.
Ol Oscar Munoz better start firing up that cash counting machine.
Ol Oscar Munoz better start firing up that cash counting machine.
The four employees were going to another city to be the crew for another flightl
They offered $400 and no takers. Upped the offer to $800 still no takers. Announced that 4 people would be picked randomly. 2 people volunteered and took the offer. Left two that were going to be picked to leave the plane. The guy was one of them.
So the up roar from all the conservatives on this website is United is the bad guy? He was asked nicely more than once to get off the plane. Eventually the air marshals had to physically remove the guy.
If this was a protester blocking traffic and you were sitting in traffic for two hours then you would be calling the protester the problem.
Airlines overbook their flights all of the time.....part of the reason is people change their flights all of the time.
When the police ask you to stop and you dont....something bad happens.....it is not the police officers fault.
You are asked to leave the plane by air marshalls and you dont' It is not the air marshalls fault.
If it's not the police officer's fault, then why has he been suspended? Why has his dept. issued a statement that
his actions were not in accordance to policy?
[FONT="][h=1]Officer Who Dragged Bloodied Passenger From United Flight Suspended[/h][h=2]Video: After the assault, the man cried "just kill me." He refused to give up his seat on a United plane; police were summoned to get him.[/h]<header style="box-sizing: border-box;"><iframe name="f7b49ee963a35" width="1000px" height="1000px" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" scrolling="no" title="fb:like Facebook Social Plugin" src="https://www.facebook.com/v2.5/plugins/like.php?action=like&app_id=521361477908471&channel=https%3A%2F%2Fstaticxx.facebook.com%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter%2Fr%2FiKWhU6BAGf7.js%3Fversion%3D42%23cb%3Dfd9c75376380bc%26domain%3Dpatch.com%26origin%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fpatch.com%252Ff3db93ee4259ac8%26relation%3Dparent.parent&container_width=0&href=https%3A%2F%2Fpatch.com%2Fillinois%2Fchicago%2Funited-airlines-drags-passenger-plane-ohare-airport&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&sdk=joey&share=true" class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: absolute; border-width: initial; border-style: none; visibility: visible; width: 119px; height: 20px;"></iframe>
By Dennis Robaugh (Patch National Staff) - April 10, 2017 4:33 pm ET http://my.patch.com/article/27021842/edit
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</header><section id="beginning-of-article" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></section>CHICAGO, IL — A Chicago airport security officer who helped drag a United Airlines passenger off a plane by his arms, bloodying his lip as horrified passengers protested and recorded the episode on their smartphones Sunday night at O'Hare International Airport, was placed on leave Monday.
The episode aboard United Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville has become a national embarrassment for the Chicago Department of Aviation and United Airlines. Millions of people have now seen videos of the screaming man as he was forcibly pulled from his seat, put to the ground and dragged down the aisle. The man, who said he was a doctor, was among four passengers randomly selected on the full flight to give up their seats for United Airlines employees who needed to be in Louisville by Monday, according to witnesses.
As the passenger was pulled down the aisle, one passenger exclaimed, "Can't United rent a car for the (employees) to get to Louisville?" Another passenger pointed out "you busted his lip" after Chicago airport police grabbed him. Several videos were posted to social media. In one, blood is forming on the man's lip and his eyeglasses are askew.
The petrified, disoriented man, who managed to get back on the plane before being taken to the hospital, ran down the aisle shouting "I have to go home." As he stood at the back of the plane, he said "just kill me ... just kill me." Police said the man was taken to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge for treatment to his injuries.
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On Monday morning, United CEO Oscar Munoz issued a statement calling the incident "an upsetting event."
"I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers," Munoz said. "Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened. We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly to him and further address and resolve this situation."
By Monday afternoon, the Department of Aviation issued its own statement about its officers' actions.
"The incident ... was not in accordance with our standard operating procedure and the actions of the aviation security officer are obviously not condoned by our Department. The officer has been placed on leave effective today and pending a thorough review of the situation."
Jayse D. Anspach, of Louisville, who was seated just a few feet from the man, posted this video to Twitter.
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Audra D. Bridges, a Louisville resident, posted a video to her Facebook page Sunday night. Bridges told the Louisville Courier-Journal the man said he did not want to give up his seat for a Monday flight because he is a doctor and needed to be in Louisville in the morning to see patients. Bridges said three airport security police surrounded the man, who screamed when they grabbed him and wrenched him out of the seat.
"We are all shaky and so disgusted," Bridges wrote on her Facebook page.
Bridges also told the Courier-Journal the man's face was bloodied and he seemed dazed. She said she saw him run back onto the plane after being dragged down the aisle. A short time later, a medical crew came aboard to tend to the man, she said. Some passengers left the plane after the incident.
"Everyone was shocked and appalled," Bridges said. "There were several children on the flight as well that were very upset."
Passenger Dragged Off United Flight Causes Uproar
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United Airlines confirmed a passenger was removed from the flight.
“Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked," the airline said in a statement. "After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate. We apologize for the overbook situation."
Initially, United Airlines offered $400 to passengers who voluntarily gave up their seats. The offer was upped to $800, but no one volunteered, according to witnesses. That's when four passengers were randomly selected.
United Airlines told news media to direct their questions about the customer in the knock-down-drag-out moment to "the authorities." The officers who removed the man from the plane were Chicago Aviation Police personnel, not Chicago Police officers. Chicago Aviation Police are security officers who graduated from the Chicago Police Training Academy but they are not allowed to carry weapons. The Department of Aviation has yet to issue a statement.
Even though the Chicago Police Department was not involved in the incident, many news media outlets that didn't realize Aviation Department Police are a different agency called Chicago Police for comment. Instead of remaining quiet on the matter, CPD told reporters the man "fell" on his face and injured himself. CPD issued a statement on Monday, described the passenger as "irate," and said aviation security officers "attempted to carry" the man off the plane "when he fell."
"His head subsequently struck an armrest causing injuries to his face," reads the CPD statement.
United Airlines is being roasted and mocked on social media for this incident, which comes just a week after a national kerfuffle in which the airline refused to let girls fly because they wore leggings.
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Once he's asked to leave, and he doesn't its trespassing. He should have left on his own, were they supposed to cancel the flight for him. Property rights always come first. He has a case for not getting what he paid for, but he shouldn't be rewarded for breaking the law.
I flew United about 5 years ago. We got stranded in Chicago (coming back from Vegas) for 2 days. United forgot about my family of 5 as we tour Chicago with no clothes (end of vacation). I was on the phone freaking at a clerk who did not give me any solution (I am usually a calm guy). The next morning I went to the booth and they said sorry and I got on the next flight out.
Wrote United a letter detailing what happen and I got no response.
That is why I never fly United.
Wrote United a letter detailing what happen and I got no response.
That is why I never fly United.
