The United Airlines Contract of Carriage permits the airline carrier to deny boarding to a passenger if the flight is overbooked.
The company exercised that right on Monday when they didn’t get enough volunteers to give up their seats for a different air crew to get where they needed to go. A man was involuntarily bumped and when he refused to deplane, Chicago Aviation Security Officers physically removed him.
The actions by the officers and airline are being scrutinized in the court of public opinion.
“That was terrible I can't imagine what would happen if that were me or someone I cared about,” said Doug Burns, a traveler at BWI Airport.
“How they went on the plane and physically took the man off is repulsive. I will really avoid flying United Airlines,” said Rami Kandel, another traveler catching a flight at BWI Airport on Tuesday.
The United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz initially called the event upsetting and apologized for "having to re-accomodate these customers.” His apology also received backlash on social media.
“To frame what happened as re-accomodation is to be extremely corporate and inhuman in your response and that's just not how you can do crisis communication online today,” said Greg Hoplamazian, an assistant professor of communication at Loyola University Maryland.
Munoz later released a statement Tuesday afternoon that said in part: "I deeply apologize to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard. No one should ever be mistreated this way. I want you to know that we take full responsibility and we will work to make it right."
The company is working on damage control but still Hoplamazian thinks the incident and online calls for a boycott could potentially hurt the company’s bottom line.
“What we saw does conflict with being customer-service oriented and giving people a good travel experience,” he said.
“He paid for his ticket, I know that you can get bumped at any given time but still it could've been handled a lot differently,” said Michael Williams, a traveler at BWI Airport.
According to federal rules established by the U.S. Department of Transportation, any passenger involuntarily bumped is entitled compensation. If the alternative flight is scheduled to arrive at your destination one or two hours after the original arrival time, the airline must pay two times the amount of the one-way fare. If the new arrival time is more than two hours later, the airline is required to pay four times the one-way value of the ticket or up to $1,350.
RELATED: What are your rights if you are forced off an overbooked flight?
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