By now you’ve seen the video. United Airlines requesting law enforcement to forcibly remove a passenger from his seat. If you haven’t seen it – it’s quite striking. Now, we’ve all seen some pretty dramatic phone videos taken on airplanes recently. The abusive passenger. The drunken passenger. The abusive, drunken passenger. The abusive flight attendant. And, finally, a favorite of mine, the drunken pilot.

This is a different case, though. You see, this passenger did nothing wrong except refusing to give up his seat “voluntarily”. Keep track of the terms used in this scenario. The language used by United in their two statements concerning this incident are interesting (hilarious(?), frightening(?)).

The background on this is that United, in its infinite wisdom and corporate greed, overbooked this flight. Without exaggeration, I’ve been a passenger on about 50 overbooked flights, maybe 75, a bunch. I’m sure you have been, too. What happens is that you go through the drill – they announce that they are overbooked and need volunteers to give up their seats and they will book you on the next flight to that destination and you’ll earn 200 United dollars to use to the purchase on your next flight. Sometimes the first announcement works and sometimes they need to up the ante to get volunteers. Whatever. It’s their problem. Well, apparently not just their problem. It may become yours.

In this case, United supposedly needed to get employees to the flight’s destination so someone had to go. United chose 4 people to relinquish their seats for these employees. (United will not describe the method used to select these specific passengers.) These 4 people bought a ticket on United to go from Chicago to Louisville. They arrived on time and had a seat reservation. They then boarded their flight and were in their seats ready to depart when they were informed that they were selected to give up their seats and had to leave the plane. 3 of the 4 people left voluntary (unable to determine if they were actual people or sheep), but this passenger refused, saying that he needed to get home. United then called the Chicago police to rip him from his seat and drag him from the plane. If you’ve seen the video, you agree that those verbs are not exaggerations of how this man was treated.

The videos quickly went viral and the outcry was deafening. United, showing that light touch that airlines are known for when it comes to customer relations, released a statement: “Flight 3411 from Chicago was overbooked. After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate. United apologizes for the overbooking situation.” “He refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily”? Even if he had gotten up and left, as the other 3 had, his departure is not voluntary.  They were forced to give up their seats for 4 United employees. Then, the apology was for the overbooking. Not for beating the hell out of this guy and upsetting all the other passengers.

So, that added gasoline to their customer relations fire and the United CEO, Oscar Munoz,   was forced to enter the fray with a statement that said, in part, “This is an upsetting incident to all of us here at United”. No, it really wasn’t that upsetting to the pilot, ground agent, and flight attendants who, individually or as a group, authorized this action against a customer with right on his side. The incident wasn’t too upsetting to the first PR person who released that delusional first statement from the company. Munoz went on in corporate doublespeak to say, “I apologize for having to re-accomodate these customers. Our team is moving . . . to conduct a review of what happened.” Really? Your apology is for “re-accomodating”. BTW, the definition for accommodating is “fitting in with someone’s wishes in a helpful way”. That’s what happened here? Let me save you your in-depth review: the guy was bleeding and dragged from one of your aircraft on the order of your employees. He refused to give up his seat because he needed to get home and he wanted to sit in the seat that your company contracted for with him if he paid the fare and followed the rules. There: review is over. And you apologize for “reaccomodating” him. I’ve seen bar fights with less “reaccomomodating”. Christ, how can a company survive that treats its paying customers in such a way? Why should it?

Why am I writing about this? Because, in my life and, perhaps, in the entire history of corporate-customer relations, nothing this egregious has ever occurred. And, yet, if you look carefully, airline customers are being treated more and more like pieces of baggage that need to be transported in the cheapest and least personable way. Unless, of course, you pay for premium fares. Then, there is almost a guarantee on no beatings.

The Chicago police officer has been placed on disciplinary leave. The customer ran back on the flight after being removed yelling that he had to get home. Last seen, he was strapped to a stretcher, still very upset. (I’m not exaggerating.)

And United Airlines? They are reinforcing their corporate motto: The customer always comes first. In this case, head first.