A letter from someone who was aboard United flight 3411 when it all went wrong:

Unfortunately, I was aboard United Airlines flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville, Ky., on Sunday. Even more unfortunate was the fact that I was returning from a spring break trip with seven of my students from Louisville Male High School who also witnessed the unconscionable treatment of the passenger.

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, to one of the officers laughing in the midst of the incident, to the violent, abusive way the passenger was dragged off the plane by the officer. It was

Belatedly, and therefore unconvincingly, Oscar Munoz issued a statement saying he feels just terrible about the whole thing. If that’s true why didn’t he mention it yesterday?

The truly horrific event that occurred on this flight has elicited many responses from all of us: outrage, anger, disappointment. I share all of those sentiments, and one above all: my deepest apologies for what happened. Like you, I continue to be disturbed by what happened on this flight and I deeply apologize to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard. No one should ever be mistreated this way.

Very true, so why didn’t you say so yesterday? Sir. Why did you say yesterday that the passenger who was beaten … Read the rest

Hashtag New United Airlines mottoes:

UNITED BREAKS PASSENGERS AS WELL AS GUITARS #NewUnitedAirlinesMottos pic.twitter.com/oX0KyCQJa2

— Helen Dale (not on your team, but always fair) (@_HelenDale) April 11, 2017

https://twitter.com/Warbot2003/status/851690182709354496

https://twitter.com/thomaslockes/status/851691792856698880

https://twitter.com/j_millerworks/status/851696760267448320

Fly with us.#NewUnitedAirlinesMottos pic.twitter.com/7Tx2eQi6zN

— テム (@toori32) April 11, 2017

What, no volunteers? #NewUnitedAirlinesMottos pic.twitter.com/ufTINPT9tt

— Kimberly Knight (@KmbrlyKnght) April 11, 2017

Next time my kids refuse to get out of bed, I'm calling United Airlines #NewUnitedAirlinesMottos

— AGuppy (@guppygupta) April 11, 2017

… Read the rest

The United story is still running, and I’m still as disproportionately fascinated by it as everyone else. I guess that’s just because it’s so perverse – so [I would have thought] blatantly wrong and yet so defended. It’s like Trump that way.

In the US, that is. Outside the US people are pointing and laughing.

The Times and the Post both are still reporting the story as if the guy did something wrong in refusing to be thrown off the plane, as if it were just obvious and taken for granted that a plane ticket isn’t what it seems to be. This amounts to saying: just expect to be mistreated, even when you’ve paid for the service in question and … Read the rest

Unbelievably, the CEO of United is unrepentant. He says it was all the passenger’s fault – you know, the passenger who had a ticket and duly boarded the plane and sat in his seat, and then was told to get out of it because the airline wanted it back. It was his fault.

United CEO Oscar Munoz doubled down in a letter to employees on Monday evening, claiming that employees “followed established procedures” when removing a passenger from a plane because it was overbooked, and calling the passenger “disruptive and belligerent.”

That’s established procedures? Smashing your face onto an armrest and then dragging you bodily up the aisle while you bleed freely from a broken lip?

Video circulated of