United Airlines Removes Passenger: Social Media Reacts

April 10, 2017 12:20 PM EDT

A video of a United Airlines passenger being forcibly removed and dragged from an overbooked flight to Louisville has sparked outrage on social media.

In a statement Monday, a spokesman for United confirmed the incident and apologized for the “overbook situation.” But that didn’t stop social media users from mocking the airline, or expressing confusion and discontent with the company for allowing such an incident to occur.

I will be very curious to see how @United explains last night’s event. Free tip: “We really really screwed up” is a (barely minimal) start.
— Phil (Newsletter link in bio) Plait (@BadAstronomer) April 10, 2017

Flying United? You have to drag me onto the plane.
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) April 10, 2017

The *seated* part is what gets me. Why even load the plane if you KNOW someone won't be able to stay on, @united? This was preventable. https://t.co/ODygE16oJr
— April (@ReignOfApril) April 10, 2017

Note that @united's apology is for overbooking a flight not for initiating a bloody assault on a paying customer. This is how not to do PR. pic.twitter.com/ezCiGrYr3T
— Colleen Derkatch, on hiatus (@ColleenDerkatch) April 10, 2017

United brought goons onto a plane to assault and drag away a paying customer to make room for its own employees.
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) April 10, 2017

Shame on you @united https://t.co/2UbNZaxgdF
— Cllr Yaqub Hanif (@YaqubHanif) April 10, 2017

This incident comes just after United came under fire after two teenage girls were barred from a flight for wearing leggings — which did not adhere to the company’s dress code.

A spokesman for United told TIME the company will comment more on the most recent incident later on Monday.

‘Shame on You’: Outrage After Man Forcibly Removed From United Flight

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