Having overbooked their own flight, United Airlines decided to select four passengers for involuntary removal. When a doctor refused to leave his seat, UA staff removed him aggressively in front of other horrified passengers. United seem to have a very poor reputation among fliers as it is and I suspect they've opened themselves up to a massive lawsuit now.

More from the BBC here.. Includes video of the incident.

Yeah, the smart move there would have been to confirm the guy was a doctor and that his story was true and if so select another passenger.

I can't imagine any way they can turn this one round.

There's a clip from the film Airplane going round social media purporting to be a UA training video:
clickety.

I watch Airplane every year; it's just that good.

Yes, yes it is... and don't call me Shirley.

You don't mean that!!

I see the CEO has now apologised after yesterday saying basically the guy deserved it

I only saw news of him blaming the passenger. He's still a twat either way.

Yeah, unless there is very clear and unequivocal evidence the customer was at fault blaming them isn't really a good idea and even if it was blatantly the customers fault saying so in public rarely ends well for the company.

The one that got me recently was Marvel saying their sales had dropped because their customers had had enough of 'diversity' (Hulk's Korean American, Iron Man, Thor and Wolverine are now all women etc), basically implying their customers were a bit racist, sexist, you name it. It had nothing to do with the obvious creative laziness and boot in the privates to the readership. Or the fact they had no good stories left. Oh, no. Backward customers! Sad!

The injured party has asked for all relevant material and information to be preserved at court. UA has given all passengers a refund lmao.

its going to cost UA a small fortune ... good ...

All of the passengers had boarded. The flight was full. UA needed to get some staff to another airport quickly or a further flight would be impacted. They offered four passengers small sums to board a later flight. One passenger refused. Instead of moving on to other passengers, they tried to forcibly remove him. It was captured.

After the video went viral, the CEO stated the passenger was being belligerent. After that, shares fell, costing the company in the region of $800m. That's when the CEO said they were in the wrong. The CEO should have put their hands up at the first point but didn't until shares dropped. The airline should have asked other passengers, increasimg the value of compensation until someone accepted it. It would have been far cheaper. It would have still been cheaper to book a private taxi and drive cabin crew to the other destination.

This has cost UA money and future business. Even Emirates have released an advert mocking UA.

United Airlines changes policy after 'horrific' passenger ordeal - BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39617879



Buckfast don't do flights, but if they did...