The story on United Airlines flight 18: the two travellers, with regular boarding passes (in Economy), then showed documents doctored on the computer to fly in the midst of luxury. Landed and put on “black list”
Two passengers tried to travel from Milan to New York in the comfortable Business class seats – costing thousands of euros – by showing flight attendants computer-retouched boarding passes. But they were intercepted within moments, disembarked and placed on the airline’s blacklist. The incident, with few precedents in the world, occurred on the morning of Tuesday 18 November at Malpensa airport, according to what the Courier.
Boarding
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The two, identified as “Italian citizens”, regularly boarded United Airlines flight 18 to Newark, one of New York’s main airports. That’s because they had real economy class tickets. But once they passed the check at the gate, once welcomed by the flight attendants on the plane they sat on two seats in the Business class, which costs no less than 3,080 euros, per person, each way, and can double as the cabin fills up.
Who was on board
There were a total of 191 passengers and 13 crew members on board. The jet wasn’t full. But a double problem arose for the two. The first: flight attendants always know how many people they have to look after, especially in Business, where the treatment is luxury. So if they don’t notice the criticality immediately, they certainly notice it later, even before taking off. “You can’t simply gate in because the discrepancy appears on the supplied tablets,” confirm three hostesses and stewards from the same number of carriers.
Seats occupied
The second problem: on United’s Boeing 777-200, according to information collected on the basis of boarding documentation, the 49 (out of 50) Business seats on sale were all occupied (thanks also to the 5 “upgrades”, i.e. travelers who moved from the lowest classes to the most prestigious ones). There were 5 free seats left in Premium economy and 57 in Economy, which became 59 when the two were removed.
The double check
In short: the two could not sit in a booth that no longer had any free seats. Once the problem was evident, the sources continue, the two travelers attempted to convince the flight attendants of the validity of their retouched boarding passes (on their mobile phones). But staff only needed to check the names on official documents to discover the move.
The reactions
At that point they were asked to gather their personal belongings and get out. Without even giving you the chance to sit in Economy. Sea, the airport management company, preferred not to comment and invited the airline to be contacted. Via email United did not go into detail and explained to the Courier that “during boarding flight UA18 from Milan to Newark two passengers were disembarked to resolve a ticket issue. After their removal the flight departed as scheduled”.
