United Airlines Passenger Removal

Overview

United Airlines Passenger Removal refers to the controversial ejection of a passenger from a United Airlines flight, after the airline informed the plane that they would be randomly selecting ticket-holders to give up their seats.

Background

On April 9th, 2017, a video of police forcing a United Airlines passenger off of flight 3411 went viral on Facebook and Twitter. After boarding the plane at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, the airline announced that they had overbooked the flight and requested four ticket-holders give up their seats for four United employees. When no one volunteered, United randomly selected four passengers for removal. One of those passengers, David Dao, a doctor on his way to Kentucky, refused to give up his seat. Police forced him out of his seat and dragged him off the plane.

Twitter user @JayseDavid,^[1] a passenger on the flight, posted a video of the removal to Twitter (shown below). In the post, he writes, "@United overbook #flight3411 and decided to force random passengers off the plane. Here's how they did it." The tweet received more than 29,000 retweets and 18,000 likes.

@JayseDavid tweeted about the incident and described the man as being knocked out during the removal.

Developments

Online Reactions

Other passengers aboard the flight recorded the incident. Facebook user Audra D. Bridges^[11] posted a video on April 9th (shown below). Within 48 hours, the post received more than 86,000 reactions, 226,800 shares, and 18 million views.

On Twitter, @Tyler_Bridges^[12] uploaded another angle of the removal. Within two days, the tweet received more than 22,100 retweets and 17,800 likes.

Within 24 hours, more videos emerged of Dao immediately after the removal. Twitter user @kaylyn_davis^[14] uploaded two videos of him standing on the plane and bleeding from the mouth. In the first video, we see the man talking to law enforcement repeatedly saying, "I have to go home." The tweet received more than 13,800 retweets and 11,600 likes in under 24 hours.

The second video @kaylyn_davis^[13] posted, shot moments later, features the man repeatedly saying, "Just kill me." Within a day, the tweet has received more than 34,300 retweets and 31,100 likes.

Within hours of the event, the video was number one on the /r/videos subreddit,^[10] receiving more than 49,000 points (93% upvoted) and 6,500 comments. Shortly thereafter, users flooded /r/videos with joke posts referencing the incident. However, moderators removed the video from the subreddit, citing rule 4, which states, "4. No Videos of Police Brutality or Harassment."^[15] In the subreddit /r/OutOfTheLoop, user MyBanananoseNoBounds posted a thread discussing the controversy.^[16]

On April 10th, Twitter published a moment regarding the event, documenting videos and reactions to the incident.^[8]

United Airlines' response

On April 10th, United Airlines released a statement to Business Insider.^[2] They wrote:

"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. We apologize for the overbook situation. Further details on the removed customer should be directed to authorities."

Later that day, United CEO Oscar Munoz released a statement on Twitter.^[7]

Shortly after the response went public, jokes regarding the CEO's statement, specifically his use of the word "re-accomodating" and "volunteering" began appearing on Twitter.

On April 10th, Merriam-Webster^[1518] Dictionary posted a popular tweet, shown below, that defined the word "volunteer," receiving more than 27,800 retweets and 43,300 likes. Twitter published a Moment, highlighting the response to the tweet.^[19]

On April 10th, Twitter published a Moment documenting the response to United's statement.^[17]

News Media Reaction

The video and reactions were covered by major press outlets, such as The Washington Post,^[3] BuzzFeed,^[4] Uproxx,^[5] The New York Times,^[6], and NPR.^[9]

Identity Revealed

On April 11th, The Courier Journal newspaper revealed the name of the passenger as Dr. David Dao of Elizabethtown, KY, as well as his 2004 drug-related offenses.^[20]

Within an hour of publication, Twitter users attacked the article for releasing information unrelated to the passenger's removal, specifically regarding Dao's past offenses. Twitter published a moment on the controversy within an hour of the article's publication.^[21]

Other media outlets covered the privacy controversy, including The Daily Dot^[22] and Fusion^[23]

Search Interest

External References