Internet memes mock United Airlines for passenger 're-accommodation'

Twitter has erupted with hilarious memes and videos mocking United Airlines' disastrous "passenger re-accommodation" after video emerged of a man being dragged off a plane.

Social media has been swift to condemn United after a passenger posted video on Facebook of a doctor being dragged kicking and screaming off a flight at Chicago's O'Hare airport, according to news.com.au.

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• United Airlines passenger dragged off overbooked flight

The man, who refused to give up his seat on a flight which had been overbooked by the airline, was filmed bloodied and dishevelled among the shocked reactions of fellow passengers.

Disturbing scenes show the heavily distressed man with blood streaming down his face panting and repeating over and over, "they kill me, they kill me".

In the uproar that followed, a United Airlines spokesman insisted that employees had no choice but to contact authorities to remove the man.

The video has turned into a public relations disaster for United, with one Twitter user redrawing a cross section of a United plane with a new cabin section called "FIGHT CLUB".

Twitter user @hodgetwins posted "United Airlines new training video" showing the scene from the movie Airplane! (known as Flying High in Australia) in which crew continually slap a hysterical passenger having a panic attack.

Another Twitter user has posted a scene from the Star Wars film series when Darth Vader unmasks Luke Skywalker disguised as a Stormtrooper and holds him up by the throat.

The tweet has been captioned "actual picture of a United Airlines worker asking someone to volunteer to give away their spot on a plane".

A tweet purporting to be from Donald Trump pretended that the US President was endorsing United's actions, saying "What happened on United Airlines is terrible. We need to add Asians to the Muslim travel ban."

Twitter users have borrowed scenes from other films and photoshopped them into an airline cabin interior showing men carrying baseball bats or battering devices and captioned "meet your new flight attendant".

The deplorable incident and resulting PR catastrophe is not United Airlines' first image crisis, but it is potentially the most damaging in the social media age.