On April 9, an innocent passenger was forcibly removed from United Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville. Several videos of the incident were shared through social media, which not only touched a raw nerve on the Internet and have caused a massive uproar among users.
The original thread on Reddit, complemented with a video of the passenger returning to the plane all bloodied and confused, became crazily popular in no time.
@united @CNN @FoxNews @WHAS11 Man forcibly removed from plane somehow gets back on still bloody from being removed pic.twitter.com/njS3nC0pDl
— Tyler Bridges (@Tyler_Bridges) 10 апреля 2017 г.
The site's users started to publish countless videos with headlines related to the case. Among few reports on United Airlines' scandals that happened earlier, people shared scenes from films (like "Meet the Parents") and TV series ("It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and "The Muppet Show") involving similar situations, which could have happened on the United Flights.
Many Hollywood stars couldn't stay indifferent to the scandal. American actor Niko Nicotera joked about a new feature of the airline's app.
Bad timing on your app update, @united! pic.twitter.com/uA0O7vSo5D
— Nick Nicotera (@NickNicotera) 11 апреля 2017 г.
Filmmaker Joss Whedon also published a couple of humorous tweets:
Getting on a United flight this morning. Excited to, I don't know… stay on?
— Joss Whedon (@joss) 10 апреля 2017 г.
"For the comfort and safety of the other passengers, please remember we will be resorting to cannibalism BY GROUP NUMBER" #united
— Joss Whedon (@joss) 10 апреля 2017 г.
More sarcasm followed from Josh Gad, an American actor best known for voicing Olaf in Frozen:
Having flown #united last week, I feel very blessed to not be tweeting this message from a hospital bed.
— Josh Gad (@joshgad) 10 апреля 2017 г.
Since the incident won everyone's attention, United Airlines issued a statement, in which the company's CEO Oscar Munoz apologized for "having to re-accommodate these customers." However, it seems that Internet users were not satisfied with it and trolled it, too.
Looks like @united solved its problem. They will never be overbooked again.
— Amy Patel (@amypatel55) 11 апреля 2017 г.
#NewUnitedAirlinesMottos Let Us Re-Accommodate You! pic.twitter.com/NYOKA6DBjd
— Freddie (@xjm1016) 11 апреля 2017 г.
cannot wait to use "i will re-accommodate your ass" in my next fight
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) 10 апреля 2017 г.
After the incident was discussed on Jimmy Kimmel's show, people started to come up with suggestions of modified mottos for the airline, accompanied with #NewUnitedAirlinesMottos hashtag that has been insanely trending on Twitter.
“United Airlines: Fuck you.” @jimmykimmel went nuts on @united tonight: https://t.co/8cx6qnc4px #NewUnitedAirlinesMottos pic.twitter.com/tjbjRuPk1K
— Matt Wilstein (@TheMattWilstein) 11 апреля 2017 г.
#NewUnitedAirlinesMottos officially my favourite pic.twitter.com/2ziVOJ0NBC
— kris peck (@krispeck) 11 апреля 2017 г.
New Boarding Policy: "Eeny, meeny, miney, mo…" #NewUnitedAirlinesMottos pic.twitter.com/vMErTbfmaA
— ⚡️The Burke Report⚡️ (@TheBurkeReport) 11 апреля 2017 г.
We put the hospital in hospitality. #newunitedairlinesmottos
— David E (@DaSkrambledEgg) 11 апреля 2017 г.
#NewUnitedAirlinesMottos
— Zeldro (@byzeldro) 11 апреля 2017 г.
Why beat your competitors when you can beat your customers?
Getting ready to fly @united #NewUnitedAirlinesMottos pic.twitter.com/8CNxPJ2EEK
— Henners (@henry_shaw) 11 апреля 2017 г.
