REUTERS/Louis Nastro
The U.S. Department of Transportation is investigating a Monday incident in which a 69-year-old man was forcibly dragged from an overbooked United Airlines plane. “The Department of Transportation... is reviewing the involuntary denied boarding of passenger(s) from United Express Flight 3411 to determine whether the airline complied with the oversales rule,” the department said in a Monday evening statement. “While it is legal for airplanes to involuntarily bump passengers from an oversold flight when there are not enough volunteers, it is the airline’s responsibility to determine its own fair boarding policies.” Passengers’ cellphone footage showed security officers pulling an elderly man from his seat to the floor and dragging him off the plane, apparently unconscious. Later footage shows the man bleeding from his face.