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Passenger dragged off overbooked United flight

<p>Unsettling video of a United Airlines passenger being forcibly removed from a flight has the internet in an uproar.</p><p>Several passengers on board the Louisville-bound plane Sunday night caught the incident on camera. The footage shows three men wearing security uniforms speaking with a passenger, then dragging him by his arms and legs across the aisle.</p><p>One passenger told <a href="http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2017/04/10/video-shows-man-forcibly-removed-united-flight-chicago-louisville/100274374/" target="_blank">The Louisville Courier-Journal</a> they were told their flight was overbooked and that four people needed to give up their seats for stand-by United employees.</p><p><div id="fb-root"></div> <script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/audra.dickerson/videos/vb.12932532/10104378182069960/?type=2&theater" data-width="552"><blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/audra.dickerson/videos/10104378182069960/" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><p>Please share this video. We are on this flight. United airlines overbooked the flight. They randomly selected people to...</p>Posted by <a href="#" role="button">Audra D. Bridges</a> on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/audra.dickerson/videos/10104378182069960/">Sunday, April 9, 2017</a></blockquote></div></p><p>Volunteers were reportedly offered money and an overnight hotel stay, but no one stepped up. That's when a manager said a computer would randomly select who would be taken off the aircraft.</p><p>When the man in the video was chosen, witnesses said he got very upset and refused to leave. So security was called in to remove him from the plane.</p><p><b>SEE MORE: <a href="http://www.newsy.com/stories/girls-in-leggings-told-to-change-before-taking-united-flight/">3 Girls In Leggings Told To Change Before Boarding United Flight</a></b></p><p>On Monday, United's CEO <a href="http://newsroom.united.com/news-releases?item=124753" target="_blank">apologized for the incident</a>, saying, "This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United. ... Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened."</p><p>Most airlines overbook flights in order to compensate for passengers who don't show up.</p><p>And <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/fly-rights" target="_blank">it's not illegal</a> for them to involuntarily bump a passenger off a flight. But airlines are required to give that passenger a written statement describing their rights and explaining how the airline decides who does and doesn't get on an oversold flight.</p><hr><b>Trending stories at <a href="http://www.newsy.com">Newsy.com</a></b><ul class="inline-related-links"><li><a href="http://www.newsy.com/stories/ryan-zinke-helped-clean-the-vietnam-veterans-memorial/">Why The Interior Secretary Helped Clean The Vietnam Veterans Memorial</a></li><li><a href="http://www.newsy.com/stories/new-york-to-offer-tuition-free-public-college/">Public College In New York Just Became Way Cheaper For Some Students</a></li><li><a href="http://www.newsy.com/stories/tomi-lahren-sues-theblaze-for-wrongful-termination/">Tomi Lahren's Suing TheBlaze, Partly Over Her Facebook Page</a></li></ul>
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Not giving up a seat on an overbooked flight led to an upsetting scene on a United Airlines flight on Sunday night.

Several passengers on United flight 3411 from Chicago O'Hare International Airport to Louisville, Kentucky, captured video as a man was dragged off the plane by authorities after he apparently refused to leave.

Audra Bridges posted a 31-second clip of the incident on Facebook, which showed three men in black shirts and black baseball caps yanking a middle-aged man out of a seat. The men dragged him down the aisle, while someone screaming could be heard in the background.

Everyone was shocked and appalled," Bridges told the Courier-Journal. "There were several children on the flight as well that were very upset."

United CEO Oscar Munoz responded to the incident on Twitter on Monday afternoon.

"This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United. I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers," Munoz said.

"Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened. We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly t him and further address and resolve this situation."

The incident occurred after United asked passengers to give up their seats voluntarily for compensation. Nobody took the airline up on the offer, airline spokesman Charlie Hobart told CNN.

United then used a system to determine which passengers would leave the flight.

"The system in place enables us to take a look at how long a customer will need to stay at an airport, for example," Hobart said. "We also keep unaccompanied minors, we try to keep families together, we take a lot of factors into consideration."

United employees explained the situation to the man several times, but he still refused, Hobart said. Authorities came in and forcibly removed him from the plane.

Some people took to Twitter to criticize how United handled the situation, while others weren't sure of what to do.

CNN has reached out to the Chicago Police Department and the Chicago Department of Aviation for comment.