United in 2014 Told Federal Regulators All Ticketed Passengers Were Guaranteed Seats

United Airlines told federal regulators in 2014 all ticketed passengers were guaranteed seats on flights, International Business Times reports.

The airline is under intense scrutiny for forcibly removing a passenger from an overbooked flight by dragging him off the plane on Tuesday. People captured the incident on their phones and shared it on their social media sites, causing an uproar.

United said after offering money and a hotel stay for four volunteers to make room for stand-by United employees that they had to pick a passenger randomly.

While one couple left without protesting, a third man selected by the computer became "very upset," claiming he was a doctor and needed to return to Louisville to see patients, Bridges said, according to the Courier-Journal.

But United in comments to federal officials in 2014 said every ticket "guarantees a passenger a seat on the plane, with no additional mandatory seat-assignment charges."

"Importantly, every passenger who buys a ticket on a United flight or a flight on any of United's partners or competitors in the United States will be assigned a seat at no additional charge (though in some cases this will still happen at the gate)," the airline wrote.

"Therefore, the rule does not need to prescribe how carriers must disclose charges concerning advance seat assignments because passengers need not purchase this service to receive a seat assignment."

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