United Airlines passenger violently dragged from seat on overbooked flight

A passenger was violently dragged off an overbooked United Airlines flight by aviation police officials at Chicago’s O’Hare international airport on Sunday, in an incident captured on video by several other passengers.

In one clip, posted by passenger Audra Bridges to Facebook, guards can be seen aggressively grabbing, and then dragging the passenger down the aisle of the plane. Other passengers can be heard screaming “Oh my God” and “Look at what you did to him.”

The airline said in a statement that the flight was overbooked, and that no passengers agreed to voluntarily give up their seats, leading airline representatives to choose four passengers to leave the plane at random based on ticket class, frequent flier status and check-in time, and that one man selected refused to leave his seat.

However, in a letter to employees, United Airlines' parent company chief executive Oscar Munoz revealed the company had been trying to make room for four employees of a partner airline.

"We sought volunteers and then followed our involuntary denial of boarding process (including offering up to $1,000 in compensation) and when we approached one of these passengers to explain apologetically that he was being denied boarding, he raised his voice and refused to comply with crew member instructions," Munoz said.

"He was approached a few more times after that in order to gain his compliance to come off the aircraft and each time he refused and became more and more disruptive and belligerent."

According to Bridges, the man is a doctor and told flight officials he was due for a shift at his hospital.

Munoz said he was “upset” by the incident, but added that employees had “followed established procedures for dealing with situations like this”.

However, the Chicago aviation department later said that one of the officers did not follow protocol and had been placed on leave pending a review.

“The incidence on United Flight 3411 was not in accordance with our standard operating procedure and the actions of the aviation security officer are obviously not condoned by the Department,' the department said in a statement. 

Federal transportation officials said they were reviewing whether United complied with overbook rules.

Passengers from the flight reported that the man was eventually allowed back on the flight, face bloodied and looking confused. Video seems to confirm that, although the reason why is unclear.