Videos posted to Facebook and Twitter show a passenger on United Airlines Flight 3411 being dragged from the plane before takeoff at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
Audra D. Bridges posted one video to Facebook at 7:30 p.m. Sunday that appears to show three officers speaking with the man seconds before grabbing him and pulling his from his seat. The man screams as he is dragged down the aisle of the plane that was scheduled to fly to Louisville, Ky.
The Courier-Journal reported that a United spokesperson confirmed in an email Sunday night that a passenger had been taken off a flight in Chicago.
"Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked," the spokesperson said. "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. Further details on the removed customer should be directed to authorities."
On Monday, another United spokesman, Charlie Hobart, said airline employees named four customers who had to leave the plane and that three of them did so. He said law enforcement was called when the fourth person refused to get off the plane.
"We followed the right procedures," Hobart told the Associated Press in a phone interview. "That plane had to depart. We wanted to get our customers to their destinations, and when one gentleman refused to get off the aircraft, we had to call the Chicago Police Department."
One of the cops has been suspended, apparently for roughness.
I'll try to embed the pic here at LF, otherwise visit the link.
A new video shows a moment that happened about ten minutes after the initial removal, according to witnesses. The passenger came running back onto the flight, went to the rear of the aircraft, and clutched a post, mumbling just kill me and I want to go home repeatedly.
The situation was mishandled in every respect by the airline personnel and the cops.
The passenger should have never been mistreated by dragging him off the aircraft.
However, the passenger is either a friggin nutcase, acting so Deckardish like .or he knew exactly what he was doing all the time while mentally counting the mega bucks coming his way after the lawsuit.
According to the statements and reports that we have currently, it would appear that the United flight was full, but four United employees needed seats on the flight. So, the airline initially asked for volunteers, offering up to $800 in vouchers, a hotel room, and a flight home on Monday afternoon.
From your posted link, I quote the above in part. Booking flights involves several necessary steps before completing it. It is the job of the travel agent at the terminal and the travel agency who booked this flight to know how many employees are to be reserved a flight seat BEFORE booking your client. Then the next step involves finding out the seating capacity to see if there are open seats. Finally, the agent checks to ascertain their client is not on a "No-Fly List" before making further actions. If the client is cleared, and there are open seats available, the agent may book the client the flight and collect the necessary funds to complete this transaction. Once the client has paid in full for their flight ticket and other arrangements, it becomes the responsibility of the travel agent to keep updates in the case where the flight has been cancelled so that their client may either get a full refund or a voucher to transfer to a different airline. This thing about "overbooking flights" has become such a burden that I am surprised that no Public Proposal before members of Congress on this matter has not been initiated.