Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., on Tuesday will demand the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hold a hearing about a United Airlines passenger who was physically harmed after being dragged off a flight in Chicago over the weekend.
"I deplore the violent removal of a passenger from a United Airlines flight this weekend. Airline passengers must have protections against such abusive treatment," Norton said in a statement Monday evening.
"I am asking our committee for a hearing, which will allow us to question airport police, United Airlines personnel, Federal Aviation Administration officials, and airport officials, among others, about whether appropriate procedures were in place in Chicago and are in place across the United States when passengers are asked to leave a flight," Norton added.
The non-voting House delegate is not the first lawmaker to come forward to decry the airline's handling of the passenger following its overbooking the flight to Louisville. Norton will ask the transportation committee and aviation subcommittee to investigate the airline's compensation of passengers who are bumped from flights, as well as how they are treated when forcibly taken off a flight.
"The only information available has been that perhaps $800 was offered to leave the flight. Federal rules require airlines to give passengers four times their fare or up to $1,250 if they are bumped from an overbooked flight," Norton said. "We need the facts on why airlines overbook so many flights. If overbooking is to be permitted, there must be accountability from the airlines in exchange."
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., on Monday blamed United for overbooking the flight and the injuries the passenger experienced.
Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., said he will no longer fly United and called for an investigation into the airline's treatment of passengers.
Video of the incident shows two law enforcement officials pulling the man from his seat, with blood on his face, and pulling him by his arms off the flight. United officials had asked for four people to give up their seats and in turn, they would be compensated. When no one volunteered, the airline selected four random passengers.
The first three people consented, but the final person refused, saying he had to get to Louisville because he was a doctor and had patients waiting for him. Officials were then called to the plane, where the faceoff took place.
"Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked," a United spokesperson said in a statement. "After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate."
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