In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, President Donald Trump said the scandal involving United Airlines passenger Dr. David Dao was “horrible.”
A spokesperson for United initially said that Dao, who was forcibly dragged off a Sunday flight to Louisville, Ky., was first asked to give up his seat because the flight was overbooked. United CEO Oscar Munoz later admitted that passengers were really asked to give up their seats to accommodate United employees. But even if United did oversell tickets, Trump told the Journal that the bigger issue has to do with limits airlines currently have on vouchers. (United reportedly offered $400 and a hotel stay to those willing to take a different flight.)
“You know, there’s a point at which I’m getting off the plane—seriously,” Trump told the Journal. “They should have gone up higher. But to just randomly say, ‘You’re getting off the plane,’ that was terrible.”
The embattled airline has taken a few hits over Dao’s video, from Yelp reviews to the stock market. In his latest statement, Munoz vowed to review the airline’s removal policy, adding that no passenger should ever be “treated this way.”
This article has been updated to include additional background information about Dao’s United flight.
