On Weibo, user who goes by the name Jinyinxingdongzhong said, "I can understand the 'overbooking' thing, but I feel deeply angry about the way they handled the situation. "I definitely will not buy" United's stock, he said, "because even if I invested in it and made money, I would have an uneasy conscience."
Joe Wong, the Chinese-American comedian, said on Weibo that "many Chinese feel they are discriminated against, but won't say anything due to personal dignity, which leads to the Western mainstream media and public disregarding the discrimination against Asians at all."
The United flight had been overbooked and four passengers were asked to voluntarily surrender their seats to accommodate flight attendants who needed to make it to Louisville to staff another flight, according to reports.
Dao refused to leave the plane, saying that he was a doctor and needed to see patients in the morning, and videos taken by passengers showed a security officer from the Chicago Department of Aviation wrestling Dao out of his seat while he screamed. He was dragged down an aisle with blood on his face. The Chicago Police Department later said Dao's head struck an armrest "causing injuries to his face".
Dao later returned to the aircraft, bloodied, saying repeatedly, "I have to go home," according to a passenger who captured the event on video.
United's Munoz also said in his statement on Tuesday that United would conduct a thorough review of the company's policies — including how it incentivizes volunteers and how it handles overbooked flights — and communicate results of the review by the end of the month.
That came after an internal email to United employees that leaked on Monday, which blamed Dao for being "disruptive and belligerent".
Munoz had said the initially that the incident was the result of having to re-accommodate a passenger, and both initial responses were viewed as tone-deaf.
"United had an opportunity on Monday to really nip it in the bud and to move forward, and to say, 'We did not do the right thing. We messed up. We are going to change this. I, Oscar Munoz as CEO, will launch an investigation,'" said Allieri.
"Nothing about [Monday's] outrage had to do with people's flights getting rebooked. Nothing. To put out in a statement that it's about re-accommodating passengers is unfathomable, how much that misses the mark," he said.
Congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat in the District of Columbia and a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, called for a hearing on the incident.
"I am asking our committee for a hearing, which will allow us to question airport police, United Airlines personnel, and airport officials, among others, about whether appropriate procedures were in place in Chicago and are in place across the United States when passengers are asked to leave a flight," she said in a statement.
US Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, tweeted that the airline "must do more than 'apologize'. Full investigation needed. Airlines must start treating passengers with respect, not like cargo."
