The company’s name may be United, but this couple says the airline left them to fend for themselves.
A woman has claimed that her fiancé was booted from his first-class seat to coach on an international United Airlines flight — to sit a crew member there instead.
Danielle Schwab and her fiancé Mikey were allegedly traveling with her parents from London’s Heathrow Airport to Chicago when the incident occurred, slamming it as “ridiculous.”
“Okay so, I’m recording this right now because we are on United Airlines going from Heathrow to Chicago and we booked these seats, we’re in first class, we booked these seats fair and square,” Schwab said, retelling her story in a TikTok that’s now had over 5.6 million views. “And, all of a sudden, my fiancé, (we just got engaged) just got moved to coach.”
According to the irate woman, her fiancé and three other people were moved from first-class to sit economy.
“I understand that the crew works really hard, however, we booked these seats ahead of time and this is not fair,” she said indignantly. “This is not customer service. I’m sorry, it’s just not customer service. Like, this is ridiculous.”
In a follow-up video, Schwab said once they disembarked for their layover, a United representative greeted them but claimed he did little to help, offering only a “glorified fast pass” through the airport as consolation.
“He gave us a business card and said just contact him whenever,” Mikey recalled, adding that the man offered to take them through customs ahead of their next flight, but nothing else.
“He basically kicked us to the curb,” Schwab added.
The couple also alleged that another passenger who had also been downgraded was swiftly compensated, while airline staff told them there was “nothing” they could do and encouraged them to “submit a claim online.”
According to the couple, they were told that occasionally passengers have to be moved for crew members to sit in if their specialized seats aren’t working or available.
“Basically, what we were told is, this is how it works. Flight attendants take turns taking naps in the back of the plane, there’s usually bunks or seats that go out into a bed,” she said. “So [if] a seat is not working … what they did instead was they went ahead and booted four people out of first class, including Mikey.”
A spokesperson from United Airlines confirmed this with The Post, saying the customers involved have been compensated.
“The seats we normally reserve for crew members to take their required rest breaks weren’t working on this flight, so we, unfortunately, had to reassign two customers to Premium Plus rather than cancel the flight,” the spokesperson said via email. “We understand the customer’s frustration and are refunding the price difference for their seats and giving them each a $1,500 certificate for future travel.”
The Post also has reached out to Schwab.
However, TikTok users were horrified by the newly engaged couple’s story.
“A flight attendant should never get first priority over a paying Customer,” an appalled user wrote.
“No no no. you paid for first class!!! they should fix this!” agreed another.