United Apologizes To Passenger Who Says Seat Was Given To Congresswoman

Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.United Airlines found itself in hot water once again over the holidays when a story emerged about a passenger who claimed that her first-class seat was given away to Houston congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. The incident occurred on December 18 and a week later, United said that the passenger, Jean-Marie Simon, had cancelled her ticket after a weather delay, a claim that Simon denies.Ms. Simon said that the airline denied her request for a $500 travel voucher and a free meal. Instead, United offered her a $300 voucher and an economy-plus seat for her flight home to Washington, DC — while Congresswoman Jackson Lee was sitting in her original seat, 1A. According to NBC News, the airline has since apologized to Ms. Simon and has offered her the $500 voucher that she’d originally asked for.As for Rep. Lee, the congresswoman said in a statement that she didn’t ask for anything “exceptional or out of the ordinary.”