A passenger was forcibly removed by authorities from a United Airlines flight in Chicago on Sunday evening, April 9, when he refused to give up his seat for airline crew. He made his way back onto the plane at one point.

According to one witness, writing on Facebook, United “randomly selected people to kick off so their standby crew could have a seat.”

“After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate,” United said in a statement released to WHAS11. “We apologize for the overbook situation.”

Later, United tweeted a comment from CEO Oscar Munoz apologizing and saying the company was “reaching out to this passenger to talk directly to him and further address and resolve this situation.”

And on Tuesday, United told USA Today the flight was not overbooked but that it had been seeking to remove passengers to accommodate airline crew that need to get to Louisville for another flight. Credit: Tyler Bridges via Storyful