Woman Spends 3 Nights in Jail After Trying to Change Seats on Plane
Jean Mamakos is suing United Airlines after she claims flight attendants on her cross-country flight overreacted when she tried to move to an unoccupied emergency row seat. Police reportedly hauled her off the plane and Mamakos spent three nights in a Seattle jail.
"They did handcuff me. There were three policemen who dragged me off the plane," Mamakos, 68, from Huntington, New York, told KIRO. Mamakos, apparently hoping to sleep on the final leg of her ski group's three-part journey to Alaska, attempted to relocate to an empty emergency row seat shortly after the plane doors closed for takeoff in Seattle.
"One of the stewardesses said, 'Oh no you don't,' which stopped me in my tracks," Mamakos told KIRO. "So I went forward and another stewardess came along and said, 'Give me your credit card."
Apparently, Mamakos would have had to pay $109 to sit in the emergency row, so she returned to her seat. But flight attendants supposedly weren't pleased—they reportedly surrounded her.
"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," Mamakos told the Seattle TV station. "(They said), 'You have to get off this plane.' (I said),'No, I paid for this seat, and I'm going to stay here.'" From KIRO:
Mamakos was eventually booked, 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.
Mamakos is suing United Airlines for $5 million.
