--- description: United Airlines said it is changing its policy on booking its own flight crews after a man was dragged off an overbooked flight title: United Is Changing Its Crew Booking Policy After Passenger Dragged Off Plane image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08af2b2c629028e8/6988c2f1cd1bba4393704bc0/united-airlines.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # United Airlines Is Changing Its Crew Booking Policy After Passenger Dragged Off Plane by [Reuters](/author/reuters/) ## Reuters Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 15, 2017 1:39 PM CUT  A United airplane prepares for landing as the New York City skyline stands in the background at Newark Liberty International Airport on April 12, 2017. A United airplane prepares for landing as the New York City skyline stands in the background at Newark Liberty International Airport on April 12, 2017.Timothy Fadek—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [Reuters](/author/reuters/) ## Reuters Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 15, 2017 1:39 PM CUT (Reuters) – United Airlines said on Friday it is changing its policy on booking its own flight crews onto its planes after a man was dragged off an overbooked flight to make way for a United employee on Sunday, video of which went viral and made the airline the target of global criticism and ridicule. The airline, owned by United Continental Holdings Inc , said it would make sure crews traveling on their aircraft are booked into seats at least 60 minutes before departure. It said the new policy would ensure that a situation in which a passenger is forcibly removed from a plane does not occur again. United said the change is an initial step as it reviews policies in order to “deliver the best customer experience.” The passenger ejected from the plane, David Dao, suffered a significant concussion, broken nose and lost two front teeth in the incident, and will need reconstructive surgery, according to his attorney, Thomas Demetrio, who has signaled that Dao will likely sue the airline. United‘s board said on Friday the company had to craft policies to win back customer trust and apologized to Dao and his family. It added that it stands behind Chief Executive Oscar Munoz, who has been under fire in the wake of the incident. Munoz has said he has no plans to resign. Even before this week, Munoz was under pressure from activist investors to improve the airline’s performance, including its customer relations. In an unrelated incident, a United passenger complained that a scorpion stung him during a flight from Texas, also on Sunday. A physician on the ground assured the crew that “it was not a life-threatening matter,” United spokeswoman Maddie King said in an email on Friday, adding that the airline is “reaching out to the customer to apologize and discuss the matter.” (Reporting by Sangameswaran S in Bengaluru; Editing by Bill Rigby) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4741390/united-airlines-booking-policy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4741390/united-airlines-booking-policy/"},"headline":"United Airlines Is Changing Its Crew Booking Policy After Passenger Dragged Off Plane","datePublished":"2017-04-15T13:39:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:26:01.739Z","description":"The airline said it would make sure crews are booked into seats at least 60 minutes before departure","url":"https://time.com/4741390/united-airlines-booking-policy/","keywords":["Transportation","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08af2b2c629028e8/6988c2f1cd1bba4393704bc0/united-airlines.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Reuters","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/reuters/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08af2b2c629028e8/6988c2f1cd1bba4393704bc0/united-airlines.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"United Continental Holdings Inc. Operations After Passenger Forcibly Removed From Flight","caption":"United Continental Holdings Inc. Operations After Passenger Forcibly Removed From Flight","creditText":"Timothy Fadek—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4741390/united-airlines-booking-policy/","name":"United Airlines Is Changing Its Crew Booking Policy After Passenger Dragged Off Plane"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Daughter of Dr. David Daughter Says Family Was \"Sickened\" By United Airlines Incident","description":"An attorney for Dr. David Dao, the passenger who was forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight Sunday, warned of a likely lawsuit against the company Thursday as they condemned the airline for using “unreasonable force and violence” to remove Da","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/0kbalvBX/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-04-13T16:21:48.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0kbalvBX.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4741390/united-airlines-booking-policy/","duration":"PT40S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4741390/united-airlines-booking-policy/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```