13 May,2017 05:58 AM IST | United States | mid-day online correspondent
American carrier United Airlines is in the eye of the storm not. No, they didn't drag another passenger off a flight or kill another rabbit, but instead tried to indulge in friendly banter with Carter Wilkerson on Twitter
American carrier United Airlines is in the eye of the storm not. No, they didn't drag another passenger off a flight or kill another rabbit, but instead tried to indulge in friendly banter with Carter Wilkerson on Twitter. Who is Carter Wilkinson you ask? Well, he is the 16-year-old teenager, who has been officially declared the author of the most retweeted tweet on May 8, to get free chicken nuggets for a year from fast food giant Wendy's.
Although Wilkerson failed to achieve the target of 18 million retweets set by Wendy's to get free chicken nuggets from them for a year, his post was retweeted enough times for them to keep their word.
According to Indian Express, in what could be considered as a move to garner some positive attention, United Airlines tweeted the following to Wilkerson as encouragement, when he was attempting his record, "If you get the 18 million RTs, we'll give you a free flight to take you to any @Wendys in the world in a city we serve. Good luck!"
United Airlines tweeted a congratulatory message to Carter Wilkerson on May 10 which read, "Hey @carterjwm, congrats on your world record! It's time to decide where in the world you'd like to visit a @Wendys!"
This did not deter Twitter users from mercilessly roasting them with a barrage of negative tweets, keeping the recent spate of controversies in mind. A selection of these posts can be read below...
Screengrab of a video showing David Dao getting forcibly deplaned
United Airlines courted controversy when on April 9, Vietnamese-American doctor David Dao, 69, a resident of Kentucky, was forcibly removed from the flight at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago after refusing to give up his seat to the airline's staff. He suffered a concussion and a broken nose, and lost two teeth in the scuffle. United Airlines offered a series of intensifying apologies since then and both parties reached a settlement during the month's end.
In a similar incident a week later, a betrothed couple, Michael Hohl and Amber Maxwell, (pictured above), headed for their wedding were booted from a United Airlines flight after they relocated to empty seats three rows up without permission.
Again in April, a giant rabbit named Simon, died in the care of United Airlines, after the animal was accidentally shut in a freezer by a bungling staffer for 16 hours.
