Another United employee told passengers that the plane would not leave until four people got off, Mr. Bridges said.<br />A passenger, Tyler Bridges, said that when he arrived at the gate about 20 minutes before boarding, United had announced<br />that the flight was overbooked; the airline was offering $400 vouchers to anyone who would give up their seat, Mr. Bridges said in a telephone interview on Monday.<br />Then the United employee went to a man five rows behind Mr. Bridges, and told him he needed to get off the plane.<br />A man on an overbooked United Airlines flight was forcibly removed from his seat<br />and dragged through the aisle on Sunday, and video of the anguished protests by him and other passengers spread rapidly on Monday as people criticized the airline’s tactics.<br />“That customer chose not to get out of his seat.”<br />The situation became uncomfortable for the United employees who then got on board and took the vacated seats, Mr. Bridges said.<br />United Passenger Dragged From Overbooked Flight -<br />By DANIEL VICTOR and MATT STEVENSAPRIL 10, 2017<br />United apologized for the overbooked situation, but not for its treatment of the passenger.<br />We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly to him and further address and resolve this situation.”<br />In a statement, United said “we apologize for the overbook situation.”<br />Airlines routinely sell tickets to more people than the plane can seat, counting on several people not to arrive.
