Couple on Way to Own Wedding Kicked Off United Flight

They say all they did was change seats
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 17, 2017 3:23 AM CDT
Updated Apr 17, 2017 6:21 AM CDT
Engaged Couple Says United Kicked Them Off Flight
United Airlines planes are parked at their gates as another plane, top, taxis past them at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.   (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

A bride and groom from Utah say they barely made it to their own wedding on time after getting kicked off a United Airlines flight. Michael Hohl and Amber Maxwell say they were on their way from Salt Lake City to Costa Rica with friends on Saturday when they boarded their connecting flight in Houston and found a sleeping man sprawled across their row of seats, the Houston Chronicle reports. They say they were the last passengers to board the flight and decided to sit in empty seats a few rows up instead of waking the man. They say they moved back to their assigned seats after a flight attendant asked them to—but then, a US marshal boarded the plane, said they'd been disorderly, and told them to get off.

"It was the strangest thing I have ever had to go through," Hohl tells KUTV. He says they decided to comply with the officer's order because they remembered video of passenger David Dao being dragged off a United flight the previous weekend. He says they made it to their Sunday wedding after being rebooked on a flight the next day—but they won't be flying United again. The airline has a different take on events, KHOU reports. In a statement, United said the couple repeatedly tried to sit in upgraded premium economy seats they hadn't bought and refused requests to return to their seats. The TSA tells the Chronicle that no federal air marshals were involved in the incident. (More United Airlines stories.)

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