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So, United Airlines has had a rough couple of PR weeks.
First, they booted a woman off their plane for wearing leggings, which seems ridiculous at first, but pales in comparison to their latest debacle.
Shocking footage from a Sunday, April 9 United Airlines flight shows an Asian man, identified as 69-year-old grandfather and doctor David Dao, being forcibly dragged off of a plane after refusing to volunteer to give up his seat for company employees.
The video, posted by Audra D. Bridges at 7:30 P.M. Sunday, shows three men wearing radio equipment and security jackets speaking to a man, who said he was a doctor, seated on the plane. A few seconds into the 31-second clip, one of the men grabs the passenger, who yells, and drags him toward the front of the plane.
Attorneys for Dao said that he suffered a concussion, broken nose and lost two teeth as a result of the incident. The doctor is planning a lawsuit against United Airlines.
United CEO Oscar Munoz released the following statement to company employees two days ago:
Dear Team,
The truly horrific event that occurred on this flight has elicited many responses from all of us: outrage, anger, disappointment. I share all of those sentiments, and one above all: my deepest apologies for what happened. Like you, I continue to be disturbed by what happened on this flight and I deeply apologize to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard. No one should ever be mistreated this way.
I want you to know that we take full responsibility and we will work to make it right.
It’s never too late to do the right thing. I have committed to our customers and our employees that we are going to fix what’s broken so this never happens again. This will include a thorough review of crew movement, our policies for incentivizing volunteers in these situations, how we handle oversold situations and an examination of how we partner with airport authorities and local law enforcement. We’ll communicate the results of our review by April 30th.
I promise you we will do better.
Sincerely,
Oscar
Now, while the clip was frankly horrifying, the resulting memes have been nothing short of glorious.
United Airlines Memes & Jokes
United Airlines announces new marketing strategy. #United pic.twitter.com/2fKhhzgfvw
— Andrew Grose (@GroseAndrew) April 10, 2017
A never before seen look at #UnitedAirlines Customer Service training. pic.twitter.com/kRm39PIVmk
— Megan Johnson (@itsm3g) April 10, 2017
United Airlines security be like … pic.twitter.com/c6xYQs1oHs
— NUFF (@nuffsaidny) April 10, 2017
United Airlines is pleased to announce new seating on all domestic flights- in addition to United First and Economy Plus we introduce…. pic.twitter.com/KQjPClU2d2
— McNeil (@Reflog_18) April 10, 2017
United Airlines social media staff arriving at work today pic.twitter.com/Tu3fspxCSb
— shauna (@goldengateblond) April 10, 2017
Dear #united, I had to "re-accommodate" someone once pic.twitter.com/MP3ZJDv85m
— Joe Thomas (@joethomas73) April 10, 2017
The PR department of United working out how to save themselves pic.twitter.com/ksgt6JsbtV
— TehSmolFloof (@TehShockwave) April 10, 2017
"Here at @United Airlines, we have a very scientific method of reducing the number of overbooked passengers." pic.twitter.com/qILRKP2QZb
— Erich Peschel (@ErichPeschel) April 10, 2017
@Reflog_18 When you are flying @united, and someone says the plane is looking pretty full today. pic.twitter.com/SNXKngQ3D8
— Topher (@Joep88894971P) April 10, 2017
Come fly the friendly skies on @united! #united3411 pic.twitter.com/IvAahRth9e
— Brianna Wu (@BriannaWu) April 10, 2017
https://twitter.com/PaulBromby/status/851484209894088704
https://twitter.com/CamCleveland/status/851482459468386304
https://twitter.com/calebecarma/status/851482439088263170
The new United business model for overbooked flights pic.twitter.com/8zpAmWFiuD
— Nick Mordowanec (@NickMordo) April 10, 2017