A passenger being forcibly removed Sunday from an overbooked United Airlines flight from Chicago to Louisville by aviation police has sparked a firestorm.
Social media erupted Monday, and the hashtag #NewUnitedAirlinesMottos was trending on Twitter as of Tuesday morning.
[CALLOUT]
The reaction thus far has been overwhelmingly critical of United, with some users indicating that they won't fly with the airline ever again and others crafting memes poking fun at the incident.
Like many, MMA superstar Conor McGregor's coach John Kavanagh anticipates a highly-publicized lawsuit in the near future.
Meanwhile, radio personality Mark Simone jokingly came to the airline's defense.
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NFL star Joe Thomas chimed in as well.
English poet Pam Ayres claimed her days of flying United are now over in the best way she knows how.
thers feel the same.
The incident also prompted a flood of iconic movie scenes within the Twitterverse.
The memes have come fast and furious on Instagram as well.
While the passenger was offered as much as $800 to give up his seat, low airfare alert site airfarewatchdog.com pointed out that United could have offered more to potentially prevent the PR nightmare that ultimately occurred.
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Still, some placed the blame on the passengers.
United's competitors have been relatively quiet on social media in regard to Sunday's incident, but that hasn't stopped some users from speaking for those airlines.
The troubling incident even led the creation of a "Boycott United" Twitter account.
Although users coming to the airline's defense have been few and far between, a new report from TMZ suggests the passenger involved may have a checkered past. The site claims the man, identified as Dr. David Dao, was charged with 98 felony drug counts for illegally prescribing and trafficking painkillers in 2005 and was given five years probation after being convicted of six felony counts of obtaining drugs by fraud and deceit.
According to the documents obtained by TMZ, Dao had his license to practice medicine in Kentucky suspended during 2005 until it was eventually lifted in 2015.
There are likely more details to come, but it's clear that United is the biggest loser by far. According to Gizmodo, United's market capitalization has fallen by more than $750 million, dropping below $22 billion since Sunday's disturbing video went viral.
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