United Passenger Dragged From Plane After Declining to Be Bumped

Update, 9:50 a.m.: United's CEO, Oscar Munoz, has issued a statement on the incident, apologizing for the "re-accommodation" of passengers bumped from its Chicago-Louisville flight and "reaching out" to the man who security personnel dragged from its aircraft:

"This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United. I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers. Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened. We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly to him and further address and resolve this situation."

Original post: United Airlines is the latest U.S. company trying to boldly prove there's no such thing as bad publicity.

The airline is in the spotlight Monday because of videos showing security dragging a screaming passenger off a plane at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

The as-yet-unidentified passenger's offense: He declined to leave the Louisville flight after he was randomly selected to be bumped in favor of a United employee who needed to be in the Kentucky city on Monday morning.

The passenger reportedly had tried to explain he was a doctor who also needed to be in Louisville -- to see patients.

Here's the climax of the incident, as shared on Twitter:

The man was bleeding from the nose and lip as he was dragged down the aisle by personnel the airline identified as "law enforcement."

United said in a statement after the episode that it needed to bump passengers because the flight was overbooked.

According to one account, the airline offered $400 for volunteers; having gotten no takers, it increased the offer to $800. When no one gave up their seat, United chose four passengers at random to get off the flight.

Security was called in, the airline said, when one passenger refused to leave his seat.

Videos posted to social media show passengers protesting as the man is wrestled from his seat and dragged down the aisle.

One passenger asks whether the airline can rent a car so its employees could get to Louisville.

"Good going, guys," one passenger says to the officers. "You busted his lip," another man says. "Oh, my God! Look at what you did to him!" a third passenger cries.

Audra Bridges, one of those on the plane who shared a video online, urged people to share it and wrote, "We are all so disgusted."

United's statement did say it was sorry -- but not for its treatment of the passenger in the videos.

"We apologize for the overbook situation," the statement said.