United To Refund All Tickets From Notorious O'Hare Flight; 2 More Aviation Officials Put On Leave
By Rachel Cromidas in News on Apr 12, 2017 9:32PM
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With United Airlines under intense scrutiny over its handling of a Sunday night flight out of O'Hare International Airport in which a passenger was violently forced off the plane because the flight did not have enough seats, the airline now says it will refund the tickets for all passengers on the flight.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Department of Aviation is investigating what happened, and has put two more aviation officials on leave of absence. One aviation officer was already put on leave earlier this week for his role in grabbing and dragging the passenger off the flight as his face bled.
"The Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) continues reviewing the details surrounding the incident. As part of our review, two additional officers have been placed on administrative leave until further notice," the department said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. "The employees ‘ collective bargaining agreement prohibits the CDA from releasing their names at this time."
As local authorities investigate exactly what led the officers' involved in the incident to grab the bloodied passenger, Dr. David Dao, and drag him off the plane, United Airlines officials are doing damage control while the company's stuck plummets. CEO Oscar Munoz was on Good Morning America Wednesday to say he is ashamed of what happened and to promise that United would never call on law enforcement to remove a ticket-holding, seating passenger from a plane due to not having enough seats again. Wednesday afternoon, United announced that it will be refunding the cost of the flight for each passenger on the Sunday night flight from Chicago to Louisville, Kentucky, according to the Sun-Times.
In the widely shared video of the Dao's violent removal from the plane, passengers can be seen and heard reacting with shock and outrage to the aviation officers' actions. Several passengers filmed the incident and voiced their outrage over what happened on social media Sunday night as the incident unfolded.