Q COSTA RICA – Following the video last week of the man being violently dragged off an overbooked United Airlines flight so staff could take his seat, an engaged couple were removed from a United Airlines flight to Costa Rica on Saturday.
The Utah couple say they were booted off Saturday from a Houston flight bound for Costa Rica, where they’re getting married, after they changed seats without permission.
Michael Hohl and Amber Maxwell — who had boarded Flight 1737 along with friends for their destination wedding set for this Thursday — found a napping man sprawled across their assigned seats.
They relocated to empty seats three rows up, with Hohl saying they were “simply in an economy row a few rows above our economy seat” on the apparently half-full flight.
Hohl said that after a flight attendant told them to return to their assigned seats, the couple did — only to be told to leave by another official.
“They said that we were being disorderly and a hazard to the rest of the flight, to the safety of the other customers,” Hohl said.
Meanwhile United Airlines offered a different account in a statement according to Houston TV affiliate KHOU.
“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,” the airline said.
The airline said in a statement to People: “We’re disappointed anytime a customer has an experience that doesn’t measure up to their expectations…We’ve been in touch with them and have rebooked them on flights tomorrow.”
“We thought not a big deal, it’s not like we are trying to jump up into a first-class seat,” Hohl told KHOU. “We were simply in an economy row a few rows above our economy seat.”
Bottom line, if you are travelling to Costa Rica (or anywhere else) on United, behave and obey. Or…
