Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-Pa.) says United Airlines should be embarrassed after forcibly removing a passenger from a recent flight.
“In the video, the passenger was neither unruly nor aggressive towards authorities,” he said in a Tuesday letter to United CEO Oscar Munoz.
A man was violently dragged off of a United flight late Sunday after it was apparently overbooked. Footage of the incident, which quickly went viral, shows three officers removing a man from his seat and roughly dragging him by the wrists down the aisle.
“United Airlines and the Chicago Department of Aviation should be ashamed and embarrassed for both their actions and their response to this incident,” the House Transportation Committee member added.
{mosads}“It’s insulting to these passengers, and others who travel frequently, to call this assault a ‘re-accommodation’ and to have the audacity to say it’s ‘upsetting to those at United.’”
The flight allegedly had booked four people too many, forcing a manager to randomly select people to relinquish their seats for airline personnel.
Munoz on Monday apologized for United having to “re-accommodate” customers on the flight from Chicago to Louisville.
The airline executive issued a second apology Tuesday following national outrage over the incident.
“No one should ever be mistreated in this way,” he said. “It’s never too late to do the right thing.”
Tuesday’s apology follows calls for congressional hearings, a petition demanding Munoz’s resignation and a more than 3 percent decline in United’s stock price.
One of the security officers involved in the confrontation has also been placed on leave pending an investigation, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation.