(Newswire.net — December 27, 2014) — Seattle, WA — A woman’s dream holiday turned into a nightmare as she had to spend three days in jail for trying to change her seat on an airplane. Apparently, she didn’t say ‘please’, but she did say her legs were hurting and she wanted to get some sleep.
68-year-old Jean Mamakos, of Huntington said she was tired but unable to get some sleep because she was ‘squeezed’ in a crowded row, when she noticed an empty chair near emergency door with more space for legs, she simplly changed seats and that provoked flight attendants to overreact, Mamakos said.
She claimed, flight attendant said “Oh no you don’t” which was rude and irritated her. Than she moved forward to another empty seat, however, other flight attendant said to her she had to pay additional fee for that seat. As Mamakos already paid thousands of dollars for this trip, she wouldn’t pay a dollar more and returned to her seat.
“At that point, I decided no, I’m not paying $109 and went back to my seat,” Mamakos said.
Then she heard a pilot apologizing for takeoff delay because one of the passengers wanted to disembark. Mamakos realized it was her, when flight attendants surrounded her and officers asked her to come along.
“I heard the captain say there is a lady who wants to get off the plane on this flight. So we have to wait. I didn’t know that was me,” said Mamakos.
As she refused to leave the airplane, officers removed her by force. One even ripped her jeans she said.
“They did handcuff me. There were three policemen who dragged me off the plane,” said Mamakos.
She never made her ski trip to Alaska as she was waiting in Seattle jail all weekend for judges to come to work at Monday.
One of the passengers recorded the incident. The video showed officer asking Mamakos to come willingly or she would be arrested for trespassing. She replied “Whatever you have to do.”
Mamakos was eventually arrested, fingerprinted, had a mug shot taken and then sent to the county jail. Her bags and shocked friends continued on to Alaska.
“They enjoyed their ski trip and I had an experience in jail,” said Mamakos who now sue United Airlines for $5 million.
United wouldn’t comment on the case, however, the United representative said it is against weight safety regulations for passengers to change their seat. Further, federal law requires pre-flight briefing for anyone seated in emergency rows, he added.