United offered a free flight to Wendy’s ‘nugget boy,’ and it 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 trying to regain its reputation among consumers, but its public-relations tactics don’t seem to be working.

The airline posted a tweet in response to Carter Wilkerson, a 16-year old from Nevada who 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.

Wilkerson’s plea has now been retweeted more than 3.5 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 hoped to get in on the fun, saying that if Wilkerson reached 18 million retweets it would offer him a flight to a Wendy’s in any city it services.

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

But United’s tweet didn’t get the desired response and is now being mocked.

@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 referring to the incident in April when a passenger was dragged off a United flight. One said, “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 its promise. On Wednesday, it reached out to Wilkerson to congratulate him on breaking a Twitter record and 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 said Wilkerson shouldn’t take the free flight because it could be a trap.