Woman accuses United of giving her seat to Houston's Sheila Jackson Lee

[alp227]

A passenger on a flight from Houston to Washington D.C. has accused United Airlines of giving her first-class seat to U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. D-Houston, and then threatening to remove her from the plane for complaining and snapping a photo of the Houston congresswoman.

"It was just so completely humiliating," said Jean-Marie Simon, a 63-year-old attorney and private school teacher who used 140,000 miles on Dec. 3 to purchase the first-class tickets to take her from Washington D.C. to Guatemala and back home.

When it came time to board the last leg of her flight home from George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Dec. 18, after a roughly hour-long weather delay, Simon said the gate attendant scanned her paper ticket and told her it was not in the system.

...

"After thoroughly examining our electronic records, we found that upon receiving a notification that Flight 788 was delayed due to weather, the customer appears to have canceled her flight from Houston to Washington, D.C. within the United mobile app," United said in a statement. "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."

full story: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/article/Woman-accuses-United-of-giving-her-seat-to-Rep-12452258.php

[PoliticAverse]

1. Seems there's a question of fact: whether she cancelled her flight as United claims or not. n/t

[Demtexan]

2. I wonder if it was another person then Rep. Lee would this be in the paper.

After Al we need to thinking like that.

[bitterross]

3. Excellent Point.

If the passenger who was seated there was just another typical passenger I doubt this would have made the news.

Given the Franken idiocy, I really want to know the political affiliation of Ms. Simon and her whole background. Including her social media posts and any campaign contributions before I can make an informed decision on her motives and actions.

Sad, we have come to that.

[exboyfil]

7. Probably not but I think any politician

would take the risk of criticism. It is news. If it had been the CEO of a company it would also be news. Same for a Hollywood star or a musician. The implications are just much greater for a politician.

[The Mouth]

9. This is Ms. Simon

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2012/11/jean-marie-simon-foreign-witness-guatemala-s-war/

[Queen of the Iceni]

12. Is that the same Ms. Simon that Jackson Lee accused of being a racist?

It must be a different woman surely....

[The Mouth]

14. I do not think so.

Tried to be *SURE* before posting, but if true doesn't exactly seem like a conservative operative.

I don't like racism, AT ALL, but people calling it "Racism" when it is actually somebody calling them on being a jerk should not be tolerated, it dilutes the charges when it genuinely *IS* racism

[fescuerescue]

15. If it was just a beef between two people flying first class?

of course not.

But things tend to get political when politicians are involved.

[BeyondGeography]

5. Not the first time Jackson Lee has made news with her air travel

* Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas): Elected in 1994, the 61-year-old Jackson Lee has gotten herself in trouble several times thanks to what the Almanac of American Politics delicately called her "regal pretensions." In an infamous 1998 incident, she reportedly threw a tantrum on a Continental Airlines flight when she wasn't served the meal she had requested. "I'm Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee!" she thundered. "Where is my seafood meal? I know it was ordered!"

https://www.salon.com/2011/01/25/aisle_hogs/

I think Continental eventually got tired of her and told her to fly Delta. Anyway, Continental was Houston-based and was of course eventually bought by United. She has pull there and it wouldn’t surprise me if she used it or if she didn’t even have to ask in this case. Hope the upgrade was worth it to her and the airline.

[exboyfil]

6. She has also claimed that the criticism by the other passenger

was racially motivated. I would think that any person who was big footed out of his/her seat would have such a Facebook post. I don't see how it would be racial.

To accept a conspiracy you would have to accept that she cancelled her booking and later changed her mind. Then was prepared to only be offended if the individual that big footed her was a Democratic leader.

[LanternWaste]

11. She says she suspects it was motivated by race

She says she suspects it was motivated by race, she does not state it was emphatically motivated as such. But I pretty much get why you would ignore that particular relevant distinction...

[exboyfil]

13. I am not sure I see the difference

Here is the quote below. I can assure you that many would have acted the same way (taking a picture and venting on social media after being big footed). How the media spins it could be considered racist, but I again emphasize that any politician could run into trouble in this situation. Rep. Lee would have been better served not referring to race, but merely stating that she did nothing wrong.

“Since this was not any fault of mine, the way the individual continued to act appeared to be, upon reflection, because I was an African American woman, seemingly an easy target along with the African American flight attendant who was very, very nice,” she said. “This saddens me, especially at this time of year given all of the things we have to work on to help people.”

[parkerMcDavis]

8. Do you know who I am?!

[LanternWaste]

10. United has had some high profile incidents over the past two years bumping passengers

United has had some high profile incidents over the past two years bumping passengers who were not notable in any meaningful way (e.g., Dr. David Dao this past spring; a gate agent barred two teenagers from boarding a flight because they were wearing leggings in 2016; etc.).

But I pretty much get why this one specifically is rationalized as to the fault lying with Rep. Lee. ("I can see a church by daylight..." W Shakespeare)