United offered a free flight to Wendy’s ‘nugget boy’ and it completely backfired

Hollis Johnson

Wendy’s chicken nuggets.

United Airlines is being criticized again. But this time, it’s for being nice.

The airline has had a tumultuous few months and is now trying to claw back its reputation in the eye of the consumer, but its PR tactics don’t seem to be working.

The airline posted a tweet in response to teen Carter Wilkinson’s plea to Wendy’s for free nuggets.

The 16-year old from Nevada asked Wendy’s how many retweets it would take for him to get free nuggets for a year. To which, Wendy’s replied, 18 million. This has now been retweeted 3.6 million times and is the most retweeted tweet of all time.

United was hoping to get in on the fun, claiming that if Wilkinson managed to reach 18 million retweets they would offer him a free flight to take him to a Wendy’s in any city that the airline travels to.

Unfortunately, this didn’t have the desired response and the tweet is now being mocked on Twitter.

Twitter users are referencing the United Airlines incident when a passenger was dragged off one of its flight last month. One user writes: “Personally I don’t think the flight is worth the beating.”

But despite these comments, the airline is keeping to its promise. On Wednesday, United reached out to Wilkinson to congratulate him on breaking a Twitter record and to organize his free flight.

But even this didn’t curry favor with Twitter users.

Who warned the teen not to take the free flight as it was a trap.

HELP ME PLEASE. A MAN NEEDS HIS NUGGS http://pic.twitter.com/4SrfHmEMo3

— Carter Wilkerson (@carterjwm) April 6, 2017

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! https://t.co/igxnPg1JUF

— United (@united) April 8, 2017

@united @Wendys So are you going to pull a paying customer out of their seat to accomplish this? #askingforafriend #unitedagainstunited

— Kelly (@kelly_marth) April 11, 2017

@united @Wendys “But we reserve the right to drag you off any time we choose”.

— Tracey Jones (@TraceyFJones) April 11, 2017

Hey @carterjwm, congrats on your world record! It’s time to decide where in the world you’d like to visit a @Wendys! DM to get the ✈ rolling https://t.co/3prDeaQdbL

— United (@united) May 10, 2017

@united @carterjwm @Wendys How is he going to eat those delicious nuggs when if your staff causes his teeth knocked out as well?

— GeniusEnvy (@JeaniusEnvy) May 10, 2017