VIDEO United Airlines ditched by worldwide boycotts, condemnation
United Airlines has become a target of worldwide criticism for its maltreatment of a Vietnamese-American doctor who was dragged from an overbooked flight this week. / AFP-Yonhap
By Ko Dong-hwan
Korean and Chinese netizens have joined international voices condemning an American airline for brutally treating an Asian passenger who refused the company’s request to get off an overbooked flight.
The incident ― which happened on United Airlines Flight 3411 on Apr. 9 ― confounded and angered protesters. Vietnamese-American physician David Dao, 69, heading from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport to Louisville, Kentucky, was dragged from his seat and down the aisle by airport police.
Dao, a grandfather, physician and a Kentucky resident of 20 years, was one of four passengers the airline selected to be “bumped” because seats were overbooked. The cabin crew called police after Dao refused their request to leave, saying he had patients to look after. The confrontation left him bleeding from the lips.
Dao ran back to the cabin after being dragged away and held onto a curtain separating seats, repeatedly murmuring “I have to go home” and “Just kill me.”
Korean bloggers posted photos of Dao being dragged as his glasses slid down his face and his shirt rolled up over his midriff.
“I was so angry I had to leave this post,” one netizen said. “What I don’t understand is why they threw him out after boarding all passengers. Also, if it was for their employees, they should have waited for the next flight.”
Another Korean blogger was more visceral in berating United, saying “the traditionally racist company has truly done it this time,” posting the viral video of Dao involuntarily leaving the plane. “They treated passengers like a pig for convenience of their own employees. They should be ruined.”
Twitterians blitzed their criticisms of the airline using popular hashtag “#BoycottUnitedAirlines,” saying: “So they have less melanin than us. Does that make them so superior over us?” and “Cheers to myself for not having ridden United Airlines in my life.”
Chinese netizens took to Weibo ― the Chinese equivalent of Twitter ― to accuse the American company of racism, using the hashtag “#United forcibly removes passengers from plane,” which drew more than 270 million views and more than 150,000 comments.
People with Asian community organizations from Chicago hold signs to protest after Sunday's confrontation where David Dao, 69, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, was removed from a United Airlines airplane by Chicago airport police at O'Hare International Airport, during rally near United's counter at the airport's Terminal 1 in Chicago on Apr. 11. / AP-Yonhap
One netizen, with the surname Wang, asked why United’s purported algorithm-based random passenger selection system chose an Asian out of so many passengers, saying Asians “obviously are the minorities,” according to Canadian daily The Star. Another Weibo user said: “If it were a Muslim or black person, they wouldn’t have acted this way.”
Zhang Zishi, 18, a Chinese student from Shandong Province who lives in Britain, started a petition on the White House website calling for a federal investigation of the incident, using the hashtag “#ChineseLivesMatter.” The petition attracted more than 100,000 signatures as of Apr. 12, according to the daily South China Morning Post. In just one day, the number exceeded the threshold needed for the White House to review any petition.
Zhang told the Canadian daily he “learned from the media that there is a lot of racism in the U.S.” and felt “Chinese people are treated unfairly.”
Three Continental/United Airlines flight attendants mocked Korean pilots from Asiana Airlines flight, which crashed in San Francisco in July 2013, in a costume party at a Chicago gay bar. / Courtesy of AngryAsianMan
United has a record of racially provocative incidents or service blunders that have made the headlines. Blogger AngryAsianMan, cited by multiple online news outlets, said that in October 2013, three Continental/United Airlines flight attendants at a Chicago gay bar costume party wore ragged pilot uniforms and racially provocative fake name tags ― “Ho Lee Fuk,” “Sum Ting Wong” and “Wi Tu Lo” ― to mock Korean pilots from Asiana Airlines flight 214 that crashed in San Francisco three months before, killing three.
In October 2015, a miscommunication between staff caused a United passenger with cerebral palsy to crawl up the cabin aisle and out a door to seek a restroom at Washington’s Reagan National Airport. After almost half an hour, Washington, D.C., resident D’Arcee Neal could no longer wait for an airport wheelchair attendant to arrive to help him off the plane. The airline offered Neal a $300 travel voucher as an apology, which he accepted, saying “I hope they learn from this,” according to USA Today.
In March, the company’s gate agent barred two teenage girls from boarding a flight and required them to change into dresses after deciding their leggings were inappropriate. It caused a backlash that attacked the company’s “sexist and intrusive” policy.
The latest incident has had an impact on the share price of the airline’s parent, United Continental. The stock fell up to 4.42 percent to a session low of $68.36, before ending Tuesday at $70.71, down 1.13 percent on the day. At one point, some $400 million was erased from the firm’s market cap.