Video of bloodied passenger dragged off overbooked United Airlines fight in Chicago

Video of bloodied passenger dragged off overbooked United Airlines fight in Chicago

TWITTER has erupted with hilarious memes and videos mocking United Airlines’ disastrous “passenger re-accommodation” after video emerged of a man being dragged off a plane.

Social media has been swift to condemn United after a passenger posted video on Facebook of a doctor being dragged kicking and screaming off a flight at Chicago’s O’Hare airport.

New chair-pocket info cards being distributed today at #unitedAIRLINES pic.twitter.com/f9WlmSx3MC — LoganPhyve (@LoganPhyve) April 11, 2017

Even popular US talkshows are getting in on the action, with Jimmy Kimmel ripping into United Airlines with a fake ad.

The friendly skies weren’t so friendly to this guy @United Airlines pic.twitter.com/bqc2edl7Y1 — Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) April 11, 2017

Ellen DeGeneres also cracked a joke at the airline’s expense on her talkshow.

“It’s crazy, they charged him a $50 removal fee,” she said, before joking, “That’s not true, that’s not true. Your first forcible removal is free.”

Flying can be a real drag. pic.twitter.com/miBSiPdvBH — Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) April 11, 2017

The man, who refused to give up his seat on a flight which had been overbooked by the airline, was filmed bloodied and dishevelled among the shocked reactions of fellow passengers.

Disturbing scenes show the heavily distressed man with blood streaming down his face panting and repeating over and over, “they kill me, they kill me”.

In the uproar that followed, a United Airlines spokesman insisted that employees had no choice but to contact authorities to remove the man.

The video has turned into a public relations disaster for United, with the hashtag #NewUnitedAirlinesMottos trending on Twitter.

I think @SouthwestAir has a new motto that beats any #NewUnitedAirlinesMottos. @united should be ashamed of the actions taken yesterday. pic.twitter.com/xLQDI4spTu — Daryel Jay (@DaryelJay) April 11, 2017

Another witty Twitter user redrew a cross section of a United plane with a new cabin section called “FIGHT CLUB”.

United Airlines is pleased to announce new seating on all domestic flights- in addition to United First and Economy Plus we introduce.... pic.twitter.com/KQjPClU2d2 — McNeil (@Reflog_18) April 10, 2017

Twitter user @hodgetwins posted “United Airlines new training video” showing the scene from the movie Airplane! (known as Flying High in Australia) in which crew continually slap a hysterical passenger having a panic attack. Another Twitter user has posted a scene from the Star Wars film series when Darth Vader unmasks Luke Skywalker disguised as a Stormtrooper and holds him up by the throat.

The tweet has been captioned “actual picture of a United Airlines worker asking someone to volunteer to give away their spot on a plane”.

A tweet purporting to be from Donald Trump pretended that the US President was endorsing United’s actions, saying “What happened on United Airlines is terrible. We need to add Asians to the Muslim travel ban.”

New photo of United Airlines asking for volunteers to deplane pic.twitter.com/C0lFRgjf4o — Give Me Internet (@GiveMeInternet) April 10, 2017

United Airlines: this flight is overbooked, we need your seat

Paying customer: but I need to get home

United Airlines: pic.twitter.com/1G0uCvXCYH — Medieval Reactions (@MedievalReacts) April 10, 2017

Twitter users have borrowed scenes from other films and photoshopped them into an airline cabin interior showing men carrying baseball bats or battering devices and captioned “meet your new flight attendant”.

The deplorable incident and resulting PR catastrophe is not United Airlines’ first image crisis, but it is potentially the most damaging in the social media age.

In 2008, Canadian musician Dave Carroll was flying via Chicago’s O’Hare Airport to Nebraska with his musical instruments.

When he arrived, he found that his $3500 Taylor guitar had been severely damaged.

After fruitless negotiations to win compensation, he wrote a song and created a music video entitled United Breaks Guitars.

The YouTube video went viral, attracting more than 16 million hits. Carroll wrote two sequel songs.

On February 24, 1989, United Airlines Flight 811 carrying 355 people en route from Honolulu to New Zealand blew a hole in its fuselage at an altitude of at 20,000 feet.

Nine passengers were sucked out to their death through the 6m by 3m hole torn in its right side below the business section and 18 were injured.

Six of the dead were Americans, one a New Zealander and John Michael Crawford and John Swann, both of Sydney, died in the tragedy.