Another sting in the tale for United
Trouble seems to come in twos for embattled US carrier United Airlines.
On the same day that a passenger was dragged off a United plane, a 'stowaway' made it onto another flight.
A scorpion, found on a plane flying from Houston to Calgary on Sunday, fell on a man and stung him, CNN reported.
It was the same day Dr David Dao, a 69-year-old Vietnamese-American doctor, was dragged from another flight, stirring up a media maelstrom.
The poisonous arachnid fell from an overhead cabin in the business class and landed on the head of passenger Richard Bell as he was eating lunch.
"My husband felt something in his hair. He grabbed it out of his hair and it fell onto his dinner table. As he was grabbing it by the tail, it stung him," his wife Linda Bell told CNN.
United said in a statement that its flight attendants helped "a customer who was stung by what appeared to be a scorpion on a flight last week".
Medical personnel met the aircraft when it arrived in Calgary, the airline added.
Mr Bell swept the scorpion off his tray into the aisle. Flight attendants trapped it and flushed it down a toilet.
It's not clear how the scorpion made it onto the plane.
Mrs Bell said United apologised to her husband and offered compensation.
On Thursday, Dr Dao's lawyer said he suffered a broken nose and concussion, adding that he is planning to sue.
Meanwhile, United remained under the spotlight as representatives of the carrier faced tough questioning at a city council hearing in Chicago, where the airline is headquartered and where the incident occurred. - AFP.
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