The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff, Wire Reports

Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 07:31 PM

United Passenger Whose First-Class Seat On Recent Flight From Houston To DC Given To Rep. Jackson Lee Firing Back At Racism Claim

A United passenger whose first-class seat on a recent flight from Houston to D.C. was given to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is firing back at the Democratic congresswoman's accusations of racism – while challenging the airline's account of the incident.

Jean-Marie Simon, an attorney and private school teacher, became the latest face of airline passenger woes when she detailed on Facebook and later to the news media how she lost her seat to the Texas lawmaker.

But despite a statement from United seeking to explain the switch-out, she's not giving up the fight. And the congresswoman's response – essentially claiming Simon made a scene because Jackson Lee, as an African-American woman, is an "easy target" – did not calm the waters.


Simon, in an interview with Fox News, rejected the racism allegation.

“That could have been Donald Duck in my seat,” Simon, a Democrat, told Fox News on Thursday. “I could not see who had boarded the flight. I didn’t even know who she was.”

Simon originally accused United of bumping her from her first-class seat on a Dec. 18 flight in order to accommodate the Texas congresswoman.

At first, Simon didn't know who was in her seat as she argued at the gate. United eventually gave her a $500 voucher and reseated her in the economy plus section. In her original Facebook post, Simon said another Texas congressman then informed her a fellow member of the delegation was in her seat, and "regularly does this" to passengers.

'I could not see who had boarded the flight. I didn’t even know who she was.'
- United passenger Jean-Marie Simon, responding to Rep. Jackson Lee's racism claim