On TikTok, a woman named Danielle revealed a recent occurrence in which she, her parents, and her fiancé Mickey boarded a United Airlines trip from London, UK, to Chicago, USA, for a holiday. To their amazement, Mickey was ordered to give up his first-class seat and relocate to economy class because “the flight attendants needed to sleep.”
Danielle told the New York Post that they had purchased the first-class seats through the normal process, but her fiancé and three other passengers were forced to “downgrade,” calling the scenario “absurd and ridiculous!” The video of their journey has received over 5.6 million views.
The service member that interacted with them, according to Danielle, was aggressive and insisted that the flight attendants needed Mickey’s seat. They were offered a choice: agree to the adjustment or locate another flight. They accepted grudgingly, but the airline upgraded their seats. When they got off the plane, a United Airlines employee apologized but said they couldn’t help any further, only giving them “expedited boarding passes” as payment.
Later, United Airlines clarified that they frequently reserve seats for flight attendants to use as sleeping areas. Two people had to be asked to leave the first-class cabin on that specific aircraft due to a broken rest seat, though. The airline apologized for the inconvenience caused to the passengers and said that they would refund the difference in price for the seats and give each passenger a $1,500 travel voucher for future usage.
