US | United Airlines US Rep Accused of Taking Passenger's 1st-Class Seat United Airlines has apologized but says that's not what happened By Newser Editors and Wire Services Posted Dec 25, 2017 3:39 PM CST Copied Ranking Member Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, speaks during a hearing of the House Judiciary subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Tuesday, April 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) United Airlines has apologized and given a $500 travel voucher to a passenger who accused the airline of giving her first-class seat to US Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Houston Democrat, the AP reports. An airline spokesperson said Monday that its internal systems show the passenger, Jean-Marie Simon, canceled her Dec. 18 seat from Houston to Washington, D.C. after a weather delay. Simon denies that she canceled the flight. She was given a seat in Economy Plus on the flight, and told the Houston Chronicle she saw Jackson Lee sitting in the seat that was assigned to her. United says it upgraded Jackson Lee automatically and not because she was a member of Congress. The congresswoman says in a statement that she didn't ask for anything "exceptional or out of the ordinary." Read These Next This is why you don't wear metal in MRI rooms. The latest in the generation wars: the 'Gen Z stare.' Please don't let this happen when we're flying. Please don't react to a bug in a crowded metro station like this. Report an error