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United shares fall after backlash over dragged passenger

This April 9 image made from a video provided by Audra D. Bridges shows a passenger being removed from a United Airlines flight in Chicago. Video of police officers dragging the passenger from an overbooked United Airlines flight sparked an uproar Monday on social media, and a spokesman for the airline insisted that employees had no choice but to contact authorities to remove the man. (Associated Press)
By Lauren Zumbach Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO – United Continental Holdings’ shares dropped nearly 4 percent Tuesday morning as backlash continued over videos of security officers dragging a passenger from his seat Sunday to make way for airline employees.

Shares dropped as much as 4.3 percent during the trading day, or $3.10 per share, eraising roughly $950 million in market cap value.

Passengers were already onboard the United Express flight from Chicago O’Hare International Airport to Louisville, Kentucky, on Sunday evening when the airline – unable to find passengers willing to give up their seats for four airline employees in return for credits for future flights – selected four passengers to bump to a later flight.

After one man repeatedly refused to leave, security personnel pulled him from his seat, dragged him through the aisle and off the aircraft. Outrage erupted on social media after other passengers shared video of the incident.

The airline’s stock rose slightly Monday despite the criticism, but dipped Tuesday morning as the airline’s brand continued to take a beating.

By midday Tuesday, one video of the passenger being dragged down the aisle had been viewed more than 19 million times. On Twitter, users shared more than 179,000 tweets suggesting replacements for United’s “Fly the Friendly Skies” slogan.

ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel joined the fray Monday night, proposing a fake commercial in which the airline threatened passengers, “Give us a problem, and we’ll drag your (expletive) off the plane.”

Kimmel also mocked United CEO Oscar Munoz’s initial statement apologizing for having to “re-accommodate” passengers.

In a letter to employees Monday night, Munoz defended the airline’s policies and its employees while adding, “there are lessons we can learn from this experience.”

The aviation security officer who pulled the man from his seat was placed on leave Monday, “pending a thorough review of the situation,” the Chicago Department of Aviation said in a statement, and United is conducting its own review of the incident.