United CEO defends actions of flight crew against 'disruptive and belligerent' passenger


In a letter sent to employees on Monday night, the CEO of United Airlines stood firmly behind the actions taken by the flight crew of an overbooked flight headed from Chicago to Louisville on Sunday evening and the Chicago aviation officers who dragged a screaming passenger off the plane.
Several passengers filmed the incident, which started after the airline asked four customers to give up their seats so flight crew members who needed to get to Louisville could board the plane. When no one accepted, United picked random passengers to go, and one of them, a 69-year-old man who said he was a doctor and had to get to Louisville to see patients Monday, refused to go. Officers were called and forcibly removed him from the plane, dragging him through the aisle as he screamed. The man later returned to the plane with a bloody face.
United gave a terse statement after the footage went viral, saying the customer "refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate," and the Chicago Police Department released a statement claiming the passenger fell. United CEO Oscar Munoz didn't do his company any favors with the letter he wrote to employees, declaring that the flight crew "followed established procedures" in having the man dragged off the plane. He claimed the passenger was "politely asked to deplane," but he was "disruptive and belligerent" and "defied" officers. Munoz said there are lessons to be learned from the dramatic incident, but told his employees he "emphatically stand[s] behind all of you."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
August 30 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump's role reversal and King George III
-
5 bullseye cartoons about the reasons for mass shootings
Cartoons Artists take on gun worship, a price paid, and more
-
Lisa Cook and Trump's battle for control the US Fed
Talking Point The president's attempts to fire one of the Federal Reserve's seven governor is represents 'a stunning escalation' of his attacks on the US central bank
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fine
Speed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year