Woman who accused Sheila Jackson Lee of stealing her seat says United Airlines has not apologized
On Saturday, the Houston Chronicle reported that Jean-Marie Simon, a 63-year-old attorney and private school teacher on her way to Washington D.C., accused United Airlines of giving her first-class seat to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas. According to the Chronicle, the airline threatened to remove her from the plane for complaining and snapping a photo of the Houston congresswoman.
According to the Chronicle:
“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.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Did you cancel your flight?, the attendant asked.
“No,” she said she replied. “I just want to go home.”
Her seat, 1A, was taken, she was told. Simon was given a $500 voucher and reseated in row 11, Economy Plus.
Simon tweeted the photo she took of Jackson Lee.
Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) in seat 1A the one I paid for dearly, and the one United gave to her without my consent or knowledge! Fellow congressman on same flight said she does it repeatedly. @united pic.twitter.com/Q2c6u6B0Yp
— Jean-Marie Simon (@JeanMarieSimon1) December 23, 2017
She also said a “fellow Congressman” told her she does this repeatedly:
12/18:United gave my paid 1stclass seat(1A) on#788 to Sheila Jackson Lee. United:"not our fault,"but SJL escorted on by uniformed United b/4 pre-board military, babies,disabilities. Fellow Congressman said he saw her do it 3x; it's"embarrassing."#sheilajacksonle #unitedAIRLINES
— Jean-Marie Simon (@JeanMarieSimon1) December 19, 2017
Siman also claimed Jackson Lee had United wipe her entire reservation from their system:
Rep. SheilaJacksonLee (D-TX) took my United 1A seat Houston-DC on 12/18/17.I was at Gate E IAH w/ 1st class boarding pass, early; she had United wipe my seat and entire reservation from system.Congressman on plane said he's seen her do it 2x before. Shame on you! @JacksonLeeTX18
— Jean-Marie Simon (@JeanMarieSimon1) December 21, 2017
United denied they gave the Texas Democrat preferential treatment and claimed Simon canceled her flight — something she adamantly denied.
“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.”
Simon also said Jackson Lee played the race card.
The Chronicle further reported:
Simon said she went to the front and snapped a photo of Jackson Lee and told a flight attendant that she knew why she’d been bumped.
In her statement, Jackson Lee said she overheard Simon speaking with an African-American flight attendant and saw her snap the photo.
“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,” Jackson Lee said in the statement. “This saddens me, especially at this time of year given all of the things we have to work on to help people. But in the spirit of this season and out of the sincerity of my heart, if it is perceived that I had anything to do with this, I am kind enough to simply say sorry.”
Simon said Jackson Lee’s statement accused her of racism, adding: “I had no idea who was in my seat when I complained at the gate that my seat had been given to someone else,” she said. “There is no way you can see who is in a seat from inside the terminal.”
The Associated Press and other outlets reported that United apologized to Simon:
United Airlines apologizes after giving passenger's seat to a congresswoman https://t.co/fYwSukjs67
— TIME (@TIME) December 26, 2017
But, Simon said, that’s not quite true.
United has NOT apologized to me. On Dec. 23, a low level employee at call center said he was sorry on phone. Voucher I received was United's idea of compensation for cancelling my flight and given it to Ms. Jackson Lee. Please correct your story. @sfchronicle @united @AP
— Jean-Marie Simon (@JeanMarieSimon1) December 26, 2017
United has NOT apologized. Man at call center, answering my form complaint, said he was very sorry, but far from written apology United owes. And $500 voucher was issued at gate right after Untied cancelled my flight, not part of "apology package." @united
— Jean-Marie Simon (@JeanMarieSimon1) December 26, 2017
SFC + NYP articles claim "apology" from United and $500 as apology wrong. United phone agent apologized, no apology from corporate United. $500 voucher was from exasperated gate agent who originally offered $300 and gave me ultimatum to take the $500 or have plane leave w/o me.
— Jean-Marie Simon (@JeanMarieSimon1) December 26, 2017
So, Twitchy asked, “who to believe?”
As it turns out, Jackson Lee has shown herself to be something of a nightmare on airlines:
https://twitter.com/Heminator/status/945420537676943364
Twitchy added:
Over to you, United. Can we get some verification that the screenshot provided to the Chronicle is indeed what the company says it is?
On a final note, the Chronicle said Jackson Lee was named the “meanest” member of Congress back in 2014…
Related:
- Confused: Sheila Jackson Lee congratulates ‘Doug Moore’ for Alabama victory
- Dem. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee kneels during House floor speech, calls Trump ‘SOB’ remark racist
- Reports: Sheila Jackson Lee makes fool of herself during Electoral College count
- Sheila Jackson Lee blames Russians, Wikipedia for leaked emails, gets educated by Wikileaks
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