It’s hardly a week after United Airlines caused outrage by forcibly removing a passenger from a flight, the airline has yet again been accused of unfairly removing a couple travelling to their wedding.
Reporting to a local media, the couple said they were escorted from their Houston-Costa Rica flight by a federal marshal after a seating error.
Michael Hohl and his fiancée, Amber Maxwell said that they were last to board the Boeing 737-800 where they found another man sleeping in their allocated economy seats. Finding several empty rows, the couple thought it humanely not to disturb the sleeping man and moved several rows up.
According to Mr Hohl, those were not first-class seats however United said that the rows the couple chose to sit in are sold as ‘economy plus’. A stewardess, then requested the couple to return to their seats which they claimed to do. However, in Mr Hohl’s version a US air marshall came on board soon after and asked them to get off the plane, and they complied. This made them late to their own wedding celebrations.
A statement released by the carrier however differs from that of Mr Hohl which says, “We’re disappointed anytime a customer has an experience that doesn’t measure up to their expectations.
“These passengers repeatedly attempted to sit in upgraded seating which they did not purchase and they would not follow crew instructions to return to their assigned seats. We’ve been in touch with them and have rebooked them on flights tomorrow.”
Mr Hohl however took the affair as a strange incident and said that the way United handled it was “absolutely absurd”.
Following its treatment of 69-year-old Dr David Dao, the carrier has come under massive scrutiny.
