2017 United Express passenger removal

On April 9, 2017, at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, four paying customers were selected to be involuntarily deplaned from United Express Flight 3411 to make room for four deadheading employees. One of these passengers was David Dao, 69, a Vietnamese-American physician who was injured when he was physically assaulted and forcefully removed from the flight by Chicago Department of Aviation security officers. Dao, a pulmonologist, refused to leave his seat when directed because he needed to see patients the following day. In the process of removing him, the security officers struck his face against an armrest, then dragged him – bloodied, bruised, and unconscious – by his arms down the aircraft aisle, past rows of onlooking passengers. The incident is widely characterized by critics – and later by United Airlines itself – as an example of mishandled customer service.

A video of the incident recorded by passengers went viral on social media, resulting in anger over the use of force shown. Politicians expressed concern and called for an official investigation. Shares of United stock dipped as much as 2.5% in pre-market trading Monday following the Sunday incident, but closed the day up nearly 1%.

United CEO Oscar Munoz issued a statement the following day that appeared to downplay the treatment of Dao, referring to the incident as "re-accommodating the customers". Munoz also sent an email to United staff commending the crew's actions for following established procedures and referring to Dao as "disruptive" and "belligerent". This was contradicted by passengers' accounts and video of the incident; for example, fellow passenger Jason Powell asserted that Dao was not belligerent, saying instead, "He was very polite, matter-of-fact."

Munoz and United were sharply criticized for their initial statements. Two days after the incident, Munoz issued an additional statement, apologizing and promising that such an incident would never again occur on a United aircraft. He said, "No one should ever be mistreated this way." In a televised interview, Munoz was asked, "Do you think [Dao] was at fault in any way?" Munoz responded, "No. He can't be. He was a paying passenger sitting on our seat in our aircraft." Munoz's previously planned promotion to become United's chairman was delayed until May 2020 as a result of the incident. Dao reached an "amicable" settlement with United on April 27, 2017, though its terms were not publicly announced.