United explains how it handles overbooked flights

United Continental told lawmakers it secured an average of 16 volunteers for every passenger it had to involuntarily bump last year from a flight, in response to questions following the now-notorious flight to Louisville when a passenger was dragged off a plane. CE Oscar Munoz told four members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation in a letter it released late Wednesday how it historically handled overbooked flights. The committee is probing the incident and sent questions to United and Chicago’s Aviation Department. The House transportation committee plans to hold a hearing on the incident on May 2. United, which has already announced some changes to its passenger policies in an effort to prevent a repeat of the incident, is expected to release on Thursday details of an internal review into the incident in which police dragged 69-year-old Dr David Dao off the plane in Chicago after he refused to give up his seat to accommodate the last-minute boarding of four crew members slated to operate a flight from Louisville the next day. Munoz said in the letter to the lawmakers that the airline involuntarily denied boarding to 3,765 passengers last year, almost all of them before they were on the aircraft, but secured a large number of volunteers for each seat in return for compensation such as vouchers. Story has further details.<br/>