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A video posted on Facebook late Sunday evening shows a passenger on a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Louisville being forcibly removed from the plane before takeoff at O’Hare International Airport.
Wochit
The Kentucky doctor who was forcibly dragged off a United flight in 2017 so his seat could be used by an airline employee said Tuesday that while the ordeal pained him and his family, he is glad it forced the airline to re-evaluate its policies.
David Dao, of Elizabethtown, spoke publicly about the ordeal, which garnered international attention, for the first time ever on Tuesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“Everything happens with a reason,” Dao said, adding he was not angry with the Chicago Department of Aviation officers who pulled him from the plane.
“They have a job to do,” he said. “They had to do it.”
Dao, who suffered a broken nose and concussion and lost two two teeth in the incident, said he was finally speaking publicly to thank supporters outraged by what happened.
He said the first few months after the incident were “horrible” and he spent months learning to walk again.
A spokeswoman for the law firm that represented Dao in a civil case against the airline told the Courier Journal he was unavailable for further comment.
Dao’s ordeal began April 9, 2017, as he was trying to fly to Louisville from Chicago O’Hare International Airport with his wife. The airline asked the couple and two other passengers to leave the plane to make way for United employees who needed to fly.
Dao, 69 years old at the time, refused to give up his seat and was forcibly pulled off the plane.
Videos taken by other passengers showed Dao’s face bloodied and his glasses broken as he was dragged down the aisle, resulting in outrage and international scrutiny at how United handled the situation.
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Dao said Tuesday that he found the videos hard to watch in the months after the incident. “I just cried,” he said.
United reached a settlement with Dao for an undisclosed amount. The airline also instituted new rules, including never removing boarded passengers unless for safety or security concerns.
Dao said he refused to leave the plane because he needed to get back to Kentucky to oversee the opening of a clinic he founded for U.S. veterans.
He started the clinic with his wife as a way to thank American servicemen and women, he said, mentioning he was plucked from the ocean by the U.S. Navy as he fled communism in Vietnam about 44 years ago.
United CEO Oscar Munoz initially characterized Dao as “disruptive and belligerent.” But following a public backlash, he apologized to the doctor and promised a similar incident would never happen again.
In a statement to ABC News, United said the changes it has made since the incident “better serve our customers and further empower our employees.”
“This year, we are focused more than ever on our commitment to our customers, looking at every aspect of our business to ensure that we keep their best interests at the center of everything that we do,” United said in the statement. “As our CEO Oscar Munoz has said, we at United never want anyone in the United family to forget the experience of Flight 3411. It makes us a better airline, a more caring company and a stronger team.”
Dao said on “Good Morning America” that he does not remember anything after bumping his head during the altercation but that he later woke up in the hospital with a trauma team surrounding him.
Dao, now retired, said he still has sleep issues and trouble with his concentration and balance. While he had run more than 20 marathons before the incident, Dao said he now can only run about 3 miles.
Dao said the United employees who asked him to leave the plane could have explained why he was being bumped from the flight “nicely” and “reasonably.”
“That makes a difference,” he said.
The Chicago Department of Aviation later fired two officers involved in the incident, with a third officer resigning.
One of the fired officers sued United, Chicago’s Department of Aviation and its commissioner in April 2018, alleging he was not properly trained on how to use force.
That same month, nearly 300 Chicago Aviation Police officers filed a lawsuit after the city of Chicago and state of Illinois ended their law enforcement authority at airports.
On Tuesday, Dao shared how he made a promise to God to devote his time to charity work if he recovered. Since his recovery, Dao said he helped residents in Texas displaced by Hurricane Harvey and traveled to Vietnam and Cambodia to help install solar power in villages with no electricity.
“Well, the most important thing is the accident turned out the positive way,” Dao said.
Reach Billy Kobin at bkobin@courierjournal.com or 502-582-7030.
A timeline: What happened on United Airlines Flight 3411 when David Dao was removed