The video of a passenger being pulled off a plane because the flight was overbooked has gone viral, and has left many airline passengers wondering if their travel plans are secure.
The dramatic video shows a man screaming as he is dragged off a plane bound for Kentucky from Chicago after United Airlines overbooked the flight.
United's CEO Oscar Munoz tweeted this response to the video: "This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United. I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers. Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened. We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly to him and further address and resolve this situation."
Overbooking is common practice for most major airlines, but many say what happened in the video is unusual.
“Here from a logistical point of view, the airline messed up bigtime, because it a rare situation that you allow someone to board a flight and then you remove them because of an overbooking,” saysHalifax air passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs.
According to Lukacs, situations like in the video can happen in Canada, and they already have.
Halifax man Dan Lachance had to get off a flight in Vancouver in 2014. He left without a fight, but took the case to small claims court, where a judge ordered Air Canada to pay him $900.
“He got on the plane and when he got to the plane he found somebody else in his seat. In this case, he had to leave the flight.”
Lukacs also challenged the process of overbooked flights, but the Canadian Transportation Agency ruled it is allowed. He was successful in getting the compensation increased for passengers who have been bumped.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kayla Hounsell
