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

Chicken Nuggets 4

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.

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

— Carter Wilkerson (@carterjwm) April 6, 2017

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.

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

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

@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

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.”

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

— Tracey Jones (@TraceyFJones) April 11, 2017

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.

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

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

@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

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