HOUSTON – A Washington, DC, woman claims United Airlines gave her first class seat to Houston area Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee on a recent flight.
Jean-Marie Simon, a Spanish teacher in the D.C. area, told KPRC she used her frequent flyer miles to book the first class ticket from Guatemala to DC, which included a layover in Houston.
When Simon gave the gate agent her boarding pass, she was told her seat had been canceled and she would have to rebook.
“I did not want to cancel, I had no interest in canceling,” Simon said. “Why would I ever cancel a flight when all I want to do is get home?”
United seated Simon in economy plus, offered her a $500 voucher and replaced the 140,000 miles she used for the upgrade. Simon said she assumed a technical error was to blame for the seat change. When she boarded the plane, Simon saw Congresswoman Jackson-Lee sitting in her seat.
Lee responded to Simon's claims in a series of tweets on Tuesday.
“I did nothing wrong,” Lee tweeted. “I asked for nothing exceptional or out of the ordinary and received nothing exceptional or out of the ordinary.”
On Thursday, Congresswoman Jackson-Lee’s office sent this statement to KPRC2:
"On Monday, Dec. 18, 2017, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee boarded a Washington, D.C.-bound United Airlines flight departing from IAH Airport in Houston. The congresswoman was returning to the nation's capital to battle for Hurricane Harvey recovery funds, to oppose the GOP tax cut for billionaires and millionaires, and to fight for the reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program. At the time, there was great excitement in our office as the congresswoman had just hosted her 23rd annual 'Toys for Kids' event, where 13,126 children celebrated and received gifts.
"In no way did the congresswoman ask for or receive anything exceptional or out of the ordinary. The congresswoman did not ask for any particular seat. To the contrary, the congresswoman merely sat in the seat that was assigned to her. The dispute that followed was between a passenger and United Airlines and had nothing to do with the congresswoman."
Simon said she wants a written apology from United, which released this statement:
"We were concerned by this issue and took immediate steps to fully understand what happened. After thoroughly examining our electronic records, we found that upon receiving a notification that Flight 788 was delayed due to weather, the customer canceled her flight from Houston to Washington, D.C. within the United mobile app.
"As part of the normal pre-boarding process, gate agents began clearing standby and upgrade customers, including the first customer on the waitlist for an upgrade. We were able to provide this customer a seat on the same flight in economy plus."