United Airlines passenger dragged off overbooked flight

United Airl­ines found itself in the middle of a social media storm on Monday, after the US carrier forcefully removed a passenger from a flight due to overbooking.

The incident occurred on Sunday on a United Express flight bound for Louisville, Kentucky, from Chicago. United Express flights are operated by one of eight regional airlines which partner with United.

The airline said it had asked for volunteers to give up their seats on the flight, and police were called after one passenger refused to leave the plane. Smartphone video posted online showed three Chicago Department of Aviation pol­ice officers struggling with a seated middle-aged man.

The man started to scream as he is dragged off while other passengers looked on — some recording the event with their phones.

One passenger can be heard yelling, “Oh my God, look at what you did to him!” The incident ignited social media outrage, with “Uni­ted” a trending term on Twit­ter, Facebook and Google.

It was another example of bad press and negative social media coverage for United, after an incident in late March when two teenage girls were denied boarding a flight in Denver because they wore leggings.

The airline defended its action, saying the girls were flying on passes that require them to abide by a dress code in return for free or discounted travel. In Sunday’s incident, United told US media that it had asked for volunteers to leave the overbooked plane.

“One customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate,” United spokesman Charlie Hobart was quoted by the Chicago Tribune newspaper as saying.
China social media users were in an uproar Tuesday over viral footage of a Chinese-American man dragged off an overbooked United Airlines flight, decrying perceived racism and calling for a boycott.

The videos taken by fellow passengers and posted to Twitter showed the man being forcibly pulled screaming from his seat by three security personnel.

Twitter -- along with other Western websites such as Facebook and Google -- is blocked on the mainland by the country´s ruling Communist Party, which fears the unregulated spread of information it deems politically sensitive.But footage of the Sunday showdown on the flight from Chicago to Louisville, Kentucky was reposted to China´s Twitter-like Sina Weibo, where the subject quickly became the top trending topic, garnering over 120 million views and 80,000 comments -- many of them highly nationalistic in tone.

"Shameless! We won´t forgive them. Ethnic Chinese around the world please boycott United Airlines!" wrote one commentator.

"There is a long history of discrimination against Asians. I hope Chinese people realize this reality and support domestic products," another user opined. "Don´t feed those who look down on us!"

It is a common sentiment among many mainlanders to view ethnic Chinese living abroad -- even those with no ties to China -- as compatriots.

United Airlines claims itself to be the biggest carrier to China, with more nonstop US-China flights and to more Chinese cities than any other airline, according to their website.

The company did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment, but its CEO Oscar Munoz apologized for "having to re-accomodate" customers such as the Chinese-American man, who was being contacted directly to resolve the situation.

"Asian American or not, as a consumer who paid for his ticket, he was treated like a prisoner," one Weibo commenter said. "Things are better here at home."