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AN OFFICER WHO forcibly removed a passenger from a plane in Chicago at the weekend has been removed from duty pending a probe.
United Airlines came in for heavy criticism yesterday as footage emerged of the US carrier forcibly removed a passenger from a flight due to overbooking.
The incident occurred on Sunday on a United Express flight bound for Louisville, Kentucky, from Chicago.
The airline said it had asked for volunteers to give up their seats on the flight, and police were called after one passenger refused to leave the plane.
Smartphone video posted online showed three Chicago Department of Aviation police officers struggling with a seated middle-aged man.
The man started to scream as he was dragged off while other passengers looked on – some recording the event with their phones.
One passenger can be heard yelling, “Oh my God, look at what you did to him!”
The episode ignited social media outrage, with “United” a trending term on Twitter, Facebook and Google.
The Chicago Department of Aviation confirmed last night in a statement that the incident “was not in accordance with our standard operating procedure and the actions of the aviation security officer are obviously not condoned by the Department”.
“That officer has been placed on leave effective today pending a thorough review of the situation,” the statement said. The identity of the officer was not given.
Overbooked
In Sunday’s incident, United told US media that it had asked for volunteers to leave the overbooked plane.
“One customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate,” United spokesman Charlie Hobart was quoted by the Chicago Tribune newspaper as saying.
United Airlines chief executive Oscar Munoz addressed the latest controversy in a statement posted on the airline’s website.
“This is an upsetting event to all of us,” Munoz said, adding that the airline was conducting a “detailed review of what happened.”
“We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly to him and further address and resolve this situation,” he said.
Tyler Bridges, who posted video of Sunday’s incident on Twitter, wrote: “not a good way to treat a Doctor trying to get to work because they overbooked”.
He described passenger reaction on the plane as “disturbed.”
“Kids were crying,” he said.
Bridges also wrote that the man appeared bloodied after his encounter with law enforcement and posted video showing him later running back on the plane, repeatedly saying, “I have to go home.”
The man appeared to be pacing and disoriented.
US airlines are allowed to involuntarily bump passengers off overbooked flights, with compensation, if enough volunteers cannot be found, according to the US Department of Transportation.
Reporting by © – AFP 2017
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Anything RTE touch will turn to shit. What are the bets Twink will be hosting it or Marty Whelan.
Brain Ormand, Derek Mooney,you see this sharp knife here….
It’s not “Blind Date” there are no hosts on this show…
And what bets it will fold by series 3.
I hope it’s the same production company behind it, rather than some crappy Irish version.
Cue a bunch of attention seeking wannabe’s who will degrade themselves as much as possible to gain Z list celebrity status.. Just like that waste of Tv space “Tallaghtfornia”
Dude have you seen the show?
Sit down and be quiet there like a good lad til you have.
You’ve no idea what you’re talking about
^^^^^ Tallaghfornia fan above!
Pity tv3 are not doing it, they turned take me out into a comedy show
There were some wagons on that TV3 one….the show where foreplay is an exchange of insults
the ch 4 show has a “maitre d”, who talks about love and looking for love at the beginning of the show, so they’ll be looking for someone to do something like the ch 4 host, I’d say Brian Dowling
He’d be a good fit I’d said, but I bet you a bag of chips, it’ll be Dáithí Ó Sé or some other such person.:P
once its not that fecking Miriam o Callaghan and her 16 children, yawn yawn yawn, same old, same old…
Anyone that goes on this show is in all probability a giant bell end
how do I apply
Probably be set in Coppers.. Couple of bags of chips after from Harry Ramsdens.
I’d actually give this a shot. I’ve seen the channel 4 version and the folks on there come across as being fairly decent and down to earth. Granted, you could very well get a few bell ends on there, but you get that wherever you go in life. Many people, from what I can tell at least, want to go out for the date and see what happens.
You can practically get next day sex on tinder,will this app beat that?
not for you, leon – keep practicing on tinder m8…
Next day? You’re doing tinder wrong.
More bollocks!
First dates are in restaurants now? How awkward and cringey. Does no-one go to the pub, get locked together, then go back to hers for a bit of slap and tickle? The Irish have turned into some shower of saddo wannabes.
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