Julio Varela said a United Airlines employee passenger confrontation at San Francisco International Airport turned into an ICE threat during a July 14 ticketing dispute over his daughter’s boarding issue. He said the family had already waited nearly three hours when the exchange escalated.
Julio Varela at SFO
Varela of San Ramon said the family of four was trying to leave for Canada when a customer service representative refused to help fix the ticket error. The daughter’s ticket had listed her last name as her middle name because of an error his wife made a few months earlier when booking the flight.
He said a different United representative had told them by phone to arrive at SFO early Tuesday so airport customer service could fix it. After the wait, Varela said an employee from a United partner airline was close to resolving the issue when a United worker stepped in and dismissed them.
Varela and the Viral Video
Varela said the employee would not give her name and started recording when he asked for it. In the viral video, she can be heard saying, “Maybe we should call ICE on you.” When Varela asked her to repeat it, she replied, “Maybe you need to be, because you don’t act like a citizen. Get away.”
Varela said he is a citizen. He also said the employee hit his hand and phone, and he described the confrontation as an assault.
United Airlines and IAM
United Airlines said, “We’re looking into the interaction in this video, but don’t have anything additional to share at this time.” The IAM Union said it was aware of the video but had not yet verified its authenticity, and its communications director said, “As depicted, the comments made in the video do not reflect the views or values of the IAM Union.”
Varela said neither the airport nor United Airlines had contacted his family to assure them they would not be detained by ICE when they returned from Montreal on Saturday night. The immediate question now is whether United Airlines takes any action against the employee, since the airline has not said what comes next.
