A woman in Washington, D.C., won’t be paying for plane tickets anytime soon.
Allison Preiss was about to board a flight from Dulles, Virginia, to Austin, Texas, when the boarding kiosk informed her she had to give up her spot. Preiss had paid the least amount of money for her seat and was told there was a broken seat on the plane so she had to catch the next flight to Austin.
Preise naturally got a little frustrated and started tweeting at United.
.@united offering $1K in travel credit for an oversold flight. If nobody bites, they will kick off the lowest fare passenger by pulling them out of the boarding line. For a flight that THEY oversold. Unreal.
— Allison Preiss (@allisonmpreiss) March 22, 2018
I AM THE LOWEST FARE PASSENGER.
— Allison Preiss (@allisonmpreiss) March 22, 2018
They are kicking me off this flight.
— Allison Preiss (@allisonmpreiss) March 22, 2018
They can’t board me on this plane because there is a broken seat.
— Allison Preiss (@allisonmpreiss) March 22, 2018
.@united IS THE WORST.
— Allison Preiss (@allisonmpreiss) March 22, 2018
.@united tried to get me to sign a document that says I volunteered my seat on this plane when I was involuntarily denied boarding. Sketchy af.
— Allison Preiss (@allisonmpreiss) March 22, 2018
As it turns out, United couldn’t take Preiss’ Twitter heat so they panicked. They first offered Preiss $2,000 but she said no, claiming she wanted a check instead. So United was about to settle and write her a check for $650 but an overeager attendant panicked and cut her a deal for a whopping $10,000 voucher. Which definitely is not protocol.
“I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty pumped,” Preiss told NBC.
United is currently dealing with a host of PR issues. Most recently, they caused a puppy to suffocate in an overheard bin and accidentally sent a different dog to Japan instead of its intended destination in Missouri. And we all remember what happened on that fateful day in April, after a doctor was dragged off a plane for refusing to give up his seat.
After the incident in April, United announced they would raise their cap to $10,000
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