2017 United Express passenger removal
On April 9, 2017, at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, four paying customers were selected to be involuntarily deplaned from United Express Flight 3411 to make room for four deadheading employees. One of these passengers was David Dao, 69, a Vietnamese-American physician who was injured when he was physically assaulted and forcefully removed from the flight by Chicago Department of Aviation Security officers. Dao, a pulmonologist, refused to leave his seat when directed because he needed to see patients the following day. In the process of removing him, the security officers struck his face against an armrest, then dragged him – bloodied, bruised, and unconscious – by his arms down the aircraft aisle, past rows of onlooking passengers. The incident is widely characterized by critics – and later by United Airlines itself – as an example of mishandled customer service.
A video of the incident recorded by passengers went viral on social media, resulting in anger over the use of force shown. Politicians expressed concern and called for an official investigation. Shares of United stock dipped as much as 2.5% in pre-market trading Monday following the Sunday incident, but closed the day up nearly 1%.
United CEO Oscar Munoz issued a statement the following day that appeared to downplay the treatment of Dao, referring to the incident as "re-accommodating the customers". Munoz also sent an email to United staff commending the crew's actions for following established procedures and referring to Dao as "disruptive" and "belligerent". This was contradicted by passengers' accounts and video of the incident; for example, fellow passenger Jason Powell asserted that Dao was not belligerent, saying instead, "He was very polite, matter-of-fact."
Munoz and United were sharply criticized for their initial statements. Two days after the incident, Munoz issued an additional statement, apologizing and promising that such an incident would never again occur on a United aircraft. He said, "No one should ever be mistreated this way." In a televised interview, Munoz was asked, "Do you think was at fault in any way?" Munoz responded, "No. He can't be. He was a paying passenger sitting on our seat in our aircraft." Munoz's previously planned promotion to become United's chairman was delayed until May 2020 as a result of the incident. Dao reached an "amicable" settlement with United on April 27, 2017, though its terms were not publicly announced.
Incident
Overbooking
On April 9, 2017, four employees of Republic Airways – a regional airline contracted by United Airlines – located at the time in Chicago, had been assigned to crew a flight leaving the next day from Louisville. They were originally scheduled to travel to Louisville on United Express Flight 4448 at 14:55 CDT, but the aircraft operating that flight was experiencing a significant mechanical delay. They were rebooked onto Flight 3411 at 17:21, 19 minutes before its scheduled departure time of 17:40 CDT and after the passengers had boarded the aircraft, an Embraer 170, which was fully occupied.Passengers were initially offered $400 in travel vouchers, a hotel stay, and a seat on a flight leaving more than 21 hours later if they would voluntarily give up their seats. With no volunteers, the offer was increased to $800 in vouchers to no avail. Just before 17:40 CDT, the United Express gate agent announced that four passengers would be selected by computer and involuntarily removed to accommodate the four Republic employees. A United spokesperson later stated that the selection is based on several factors, and that frequent fliers and higher-paying customers are less likely to be chosen. Another spokesman stated that the flight was not overbooked prior to the four employees being assigned to it.
Passenger removal
Three of the selected passengers, a couple and a woman thought to be David Dao's wife, cooperated with the direction to leave the aircraft. The fourth, 69-year-old David Dao – a doctor from Elizabethtown, Kentucky and former folk musician was initially cooperative but declined upon learning that the flight which he would be rescheduled onto would not leave until the next day, protesting that he needed to see patients the next day at his clinic. United Airlines staff requested assistance from the Chicago Department of Aviation Security, a department with powers differing from those of the Chicago Police Department; for example, its officers cannot file arrest reports.Dao refused to leave his seat and initially screamed as he was forcefully removed, then fell silent as he apparently lost consciousness. In the process, he suffered injuries to his head and mouth when, according to another passenger, aviation security officer James Long threw him against the armrest before dragging him down the aisle by his arms, apparently unconscious. During the altercation, several passengers distressed by the incident voluntarily left the aircraft. Passengers stated that officers laughed as Dao was dragged from the plane. The four United employees then sat in the vacated seats. Shortly afterward, Dao boarded the aircraft again with blood coming from his mouth, repeatedly saying "I have to go home" and "just kill me". After he collapsed in a seat, he was removed from the aircraft on a stretcher. The remaining passengers were then directed to exit the plane while the blood was cleaned up. Several passengers recorded the event on video using phone cameras and the videos were widely circulated on social media. Another passenger reported hearing Dao claim that he had been chosen because of his Asian ethnicity. Dao was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, including a broken nose, loss of two front teeth, sinus injuries, and "a significant concussion"; the injuries required reconstructive surgery, according to Dao's lawyer.
The flight departed at 19:21 CDT and arrived at Louisville at 21:01 EDT.
Passenger assessments
Several passengers stated that the situation escalated quickly and was inflamed by the demeanor of a United employee. According to passenger Tyler Bridges, "An airline supervisor walked onto the plane and brusquely announced, 'We have United employees that need to fly to Louisville tonight.... This flight's not leaving until four people get off.' That rubbed some people the wrong way." Passenger John Fuller described the employee's behavior and said, "She was very terse.... She said, 'Four people need to get off this plane, or we're not going anywhere.'" Passenger Jason Powell corroborated this account and said that he did not understand why the employee had spoken with such a belligerent tone: "The tone immediately turned me off... She accelerated the situation. It was poor leadership." Powell said, "The disgusting mishandling of the situation included everyone from the rude ticket agent who demanded that this man give up his seat on the flight United overbooked ..."Passenger John Klaassen later said, "after the first offer was made, the United employee left and it escalated... had they just tried some diplomacy, none of this had to take place... they were unwilling to negotiate." Passenger Mary Myers faulted the supervisor, saying, "I really put all of this on her shoulders. She could have made a difference. She could have handled it differently. She's the one who started it all." Myers also indicated that Dao had pleaded with the supervisor not to remove him from the flight and explained that as a doctor he could not miss his return flight home. "He said, 'I can’t get off the plane. I have to get home. I'm a doctor. I have to get to the hospital in the morning.'" Myers stated that her response was not appropriate: "She said, 'Well, then I'll just have to call the police and have you escorted off the plane.' In my opinion, I think any good supervisor would never have let the situation escalate to that point. Honestly, I think I blame her for the whole entire occurrence. She didn't need to jump to that level."
Aftermath
On April 11, 2017, the law firms representing Dao, Golan Christie Taglia and Corboy & Demetrio, issued a statement indicating that Dao and his family "wants the world to know that they are very appreciative of the outpouring of prayers, concern and support."The three Chicago Department of Aviation officers who responded to the incident were James Long, Mauricio Rodriguez Jr., and Steven Smith. Their supervisor was Sergeant John Moore. Long had just returned to the job after a suspension for insubordination after having ignored a supervisor's orders to prevent vehicles from driving into a restricted area of the airport. Long was placed on administrative leave soon after the incident with Dao; Rodriguez and Smith were placed on administrative leave on April 12. Moore was placed on administrative leave on April 19. Moore had been disciplined at least seven times from 1999 to 2009 for failing to arrive at work without notifying a supervisor. The Chicago Department of Aviation said that "the incident on United Flight 3411 was not in accordance with our standard operating procedure and the actions of the aviation security officer are obviously not condoned by the Department ..." The aviation police receive more training and higher pay compared to that received by private security guards, but less than that of officers of the Chicago Police Department.
City Inspector General Joseph Ferguson launched an investigation shortly after the incident. The Office of Inspector General released its findings on October 17, 2017, establishing that the four officers had violated City of Chicago personnel rules. The report stated:
Specifically, the first ASO violated the CDA Use of Force Policy when that ASO escalated a non-threatening situation into a physically violent one by forcefully removing a passenger from the aircraft. The ASO's use of excessive force caused the passenger to hit his face on an armrest, resulting in the passenger sustaining a concussion, a broken nose, and the loss of two teeth. OIG's investigation also established that the second ASO made misleading statements in two reports and the third ASO made material omissions in a report, regarding the first ASO's forceful removal of the passenger from the aircraft. The investigation further established that the Sergeant deliberately removed material facts from the third ASO's "To/From Report" and approved reports without all essential information.In response to the OIG report, the CDA discharged Long and Moore and issued five-day suspensions to Rodriguez and Smith.