United Airlines is considering one of its employees following the video circulating online that shows one of the company’s flight staff intimidating a passenger and threatening to contact the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
According to Julio Varela, last week he intended to board with his wife and daughters to fly to Montreal but discovered that the middle and last names of one of his daughters had been exchanged on the boarding pass. He explained that he spent almost three hours trying to solve the problem at both United and Air Canada counters.
However, things worsened after one of United’s employees, an Air Canada worker, joined the discussion to try to solve the problem, Varela added. He revealed how the United employee told him, “I already told you. I can’t do anything. Whether you fly out or not, I don’t care.”
In the video, Varela refers to the United employee as rude and lazy, takes out his mobile phone, and requests the employee’s name.
In the video, one of the employees can be heard saying, “Maybe we should call ICE on you”. After Varela’s request, “You going to call ICE on me?” the employee responded, “Maybe you need to be, because you don’t act like a citizen.”
Varela, a U.S. citizen who identifies as Hispanic and Mexican, was shocked by the comment.
“My jaw dropped. I was shocked, and immediately I was angry,” he told an interviewee.
The video of the encounter went viral online. According to a statement by United Airlines, “We’re looking into the interaction in this video, but don’t have anything additional to share at this time.”
