Middle Eastern carriers seized on the social media storm surrounding the forced removal of a passenger from a United Airlines flight to mock one of the arch-critics of their breakneck expansion.

Fly the friendly skies with a real airline. pic.twitter.com/wE5C5n6Lvn

— Emirates airline (@emirates) April 11, 2017

Dubai-based Emirates lampooned United’s motto on its Twitter account, urging passengers to “fly the friendly skies with a real airline,” while Qatar Airways tweeted an image of its own app, which it said “doesn’t support drag and drop.” Royal Jordanian Airlines joked that it’s also against dragging in an anti-smoking advertisement, while Turkish Airlines pointed out that it last week added an extra passenger to one of its flights after a baby was born on board.

We’re united in our goal to always accommodate our passengers, even with our app updates. pic.twitter.com/1K3q76qOp6

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— Qatar Airways (@qatarairways) April 12, 2017

While most airlines steered clear of commenting on the United debacle, the U.S. giant’s embarrassment over the removal of the man to make way for one of its employees was too good an opportunity to miss for Mideast operators subject to years of gibes over the part played by state funding in their success story.

We are here to keep you #united Dragging is strictly prohibited ? pic.twitter.com/CSjZD7fM4J

— Royal Jordanian (@RoyalJordanian) April 10, 2017

The Emirates tweet includes a video mocking United Chief Executive Officer Oscar Munoz’s suggestion this year that Gulf carriers “aren’t real airlines” by highlighting its Tripadvisor ranking as the world’s best carrier in 2017. The post ends with the punchline: “Fly the friendly skies… this time for real.”

Instead of involuntarily removing a passenger, Turkish Air assists in involuntary adding one: https://t.co/ftubp9rZuX

— Arianna Huffington (@ariannahuff) April 10, 2017

The world’s biggest long-haul airline has taken a swipe at U.S. rivals before, most notably in a 2015 ad campaign that showed Jennifer Aniston being offered peanuts and a hand towel by American-accented flight attendants, before waking to find herself cosseted in the flat-bed seat of an Emirates superjumbo.

Unfair competition

United Continental Holdings Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and American Airlines Group have accused Emirates, Etihad Airways PJSC and Qatar of competing unfairly in global markets with the help of more than $40 billion in illegal government subsidies, something the Gulf carriers deny.

The U.S. operators recently urged President Donald Trump to curb flying rights for their rivals. Tensions have ratcheted up further with an attempted ban on citizens of six Muslim-majority countries entering America, together with a bar on passengers carrying large electronic devices aboard U.S.-bound flights from airports in the Middle East and North Africa, including the bases of Emirates, Turkish Air, Qatar Air and Royal Jordanian.

United’s Munoz on Tuesday issued a second apology for Sunday’s incident in Chicago, in which the ejected passenger, David Dao, was left bloodied and dazed, saying that “no one should ever be mistreated this way,” and promising a review of his airline’s procedures to be completed by April 30.

The CEO had earlier apologized only for having to re-accommodate customers, labeling Dao, who received hospital treatment, “disruptive” and “belligerent.”