United Passenger Who Was Dragged Off Flight Gives First Interview

Doctor David Dao, the United passenger who was bloodied and dragged from an overbooked United flight in a shocking viral video, gave his first interview about the incident two years after the video spread across the internet. 

Dao spoke with ABC News about the disturbing video, which shows the doctor being forcibly removed from a plane after refusing to give up his seat on a United flight that had sold more tickets than they had capacity to carry. Dao was on his way to open a clinic for veterans in Louisville, Kentucky and refused to vacate his seat on a flight from Chicago because he wanted to make the opening. The Vietnamese immigrant explained to ABC that he opened the clinic with his wife as a thank-you to the service members who pulled him out of the ocean when he attempted to flee Vietnam as a child. 

Dao didn’t make the opening due to the events of the video, which he said deeply impacted him the first time he watched it.

“I just cried,” he said.

Dao said that he had to relearn how to walk after the incident and noted that he can no longer run marathons like he did before the altercation on the plane. Even with all of that in mind, Dao said he was glad that it happened, because it made the airlines reevaluate their own policies and the way that they treat their customers.

“Well the most important thing is the accident turned out the positive way,” he said. “Airline business[es were] willing to change [their] policy.” 

United shared a statement with NBC News about the ways in which the video forced them to change their procedures.

“Flight 3411 was a defining moment for United Airlines and it is our responsibility to make sure we as a company and all of our 90,000 employees continue to learn from that experience,” the airline said. “The changes we have implemented since that incident better serve our customers and further empower our employees.”