United passenger row: Dictionary trolls airline by tweeting definition of 'volunteer'

The Twitter account of the Merriam-Webster dictionary has mocked United Airlines by tweeting the definition of the word “volunteer”.

The airline has provoked a furious backlash after video footage of an elderly passenger being forcibly removed from one of its flights went viral.

Images emerged of the bloodied 69-year-old, a doctor, being dragged off an aeroplane.

The company’s CEO, Oscar Munoz, issued an apology but privately doubled down on the crew’s decision, stating that the man was being “disruptive and belligerent”.

In a statement, United said: “After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate.”

Shortly after, searches for “volunteer” spiked by 1,900% — prompting the dictionary to clarify the word’s meaning.

“‘Volunteer’ means ‘someone who does something without being forced to do it’,” it wrote.

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In a private email to the company’s employees, Munoz said: “Our employees followed established procedures for dealing with situations like this.

“While I deeply regret this situation arose, I also emphatically stand behind all of you, and I want to commend you for continuing to go above and beyond to ensure we fly right.”

The CEO said flight crews had offered up to $1,000 (£805) in compensation for anyone willing to catch the next flight before approaching the passenger to “explain apologetically” that he was being denied boarding.

However, shocked Twitter users branded Munoz “tone deaf” and threatened to boycott United Airlines.

One user said called the incident “absolutely disgusting”. “Simple fix,” they added, “doo not overbook your seats and stop beating up your passengers”

Audra D Bridges, a passenger, posted a video of the incident on Facebook, which has been viewed more than 400,000 times.

She wrote: “Please share this video. We are on this flight. United airlines overbooked the flight. They randomly selected people to kick off so their standby crew could have a seat.

“This man is a doctor and has to be at the hospital in the morning. He did not want to get off. We are all shaky and so disgusted.”