On Sunday April 9th, David Dao, 69, from Elizabethtown, Kentucky, was dragged violently off of United flight 3411 out of Chicago O'Hare International Airport. The local police were called in to take him from the plane after the man refused to voluntarily give up his seat when he was chosen by the airline to be 'bumped' from the flight.

United had over-booked the flight which is common practice to compensate for cancellations and no-shows. After the plane had been fully boarded, four employees from a partner airline approached the plane requesting to board. United asked for four volunteers from the passengers offering monetary compensation. No one volunteered to get off of the plane and so four people were selected at random to be removed, including Dao. The other three passengers left the plane without incident but Dao refused stating he was a doctor and needed to get home to tend to patients on Monday morning.

Instead of selecting someone else, the local police were called in. After an attempt at negotiation to no avail, one officer then forcibly grabbed and removed Dao from the plane by dragging him from his window seat, across the arms, down the aisle and out of the plane, bloodying Dao in the process. During the removal, passengers were outraged and can be heard yelling and screaming in defense of Dao. Multiple videos were taken showing the violent removal during which these objections can be heard. As observed by fellow passengers and shown in various videos, Dao was not violent in any way, he simply refused to de-board and was heard repeating the words "I want to go home, I want to go home."

After an initial declaration that Dao was "disruptive and belligerent", two days after the incident, CEO of United Oscar Munoz amended his statement and issued an apology saying, "no one should ever be mistreated this way." During his appearance on Good Morning America on Wednesday, April 12th, he further stated, "That is not who our family at United is. This will never happen again on a United flight. That’s my promise.” Adding to this, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in his address to the press on the matter that the way Dao was treated was "completely unacceptable." Also, Aviation Department Spokeswoman Karen Pride stated that “The incident on United flight 3411 was not in accordance with our standard operating procedure and the actions of the aviation security officer are obviously not condoned. That officer has been placed on leave effective today pending a thorough review of the situation.”

All of this raises the question, can this happen to you? Yes! It can, although probably not so violently. Obviously, this was an unusual incident and the 'bumping' procedure is usually handled at the gate or the ticket booth when it appears a flight has been overbooked, not actually on the plane. What are the rules and your rights as a passenger when something like this arises? According to federal law, an airline must ask for volunteers first, which usually involves compensation. However, if there are no volunteers, every airline retains the right to 'bump' you from your flight whenever they deem it necessary and at their discretion. Since no two airlines have the same policy when it comes to refusing passage, it is recommended that you read up on all your rights as a passenger for each airline you use.

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