A United Airlines passenger flying from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Denver on flight 5339 – a CRJ-700 regional jet operated by SkyWest, found his seat cushion detached and on the ground of the aircraft when he boarded. He naturally let a flight attendant know – but this turned out to be a grave mistake. The man was given an ultimatum:
- either fly with the broken seats
- or get off the plane.
we boarded UA 5339 today from SFE and found our seats on the floor and unable to be reattached properly. Flight attendants told us we can either “fly with these seats or miss this flight”. We were kicked off the flight and missed our connection. @united please address this! pic.twitter.com/1i3BGgMsYe
— Jacob Lui (@JacobZLui) May 31, 2025
With their ultimatum to us, it felt like we were being punished for bringing these seats to their attention in order to ensure takeoff for the rest of the passengers. United seems to be prioritizing timeliness over safety when they told us only our seatbelts were necessary
— Jacob Lui (@JacobZLui) May 31, 2025
The passenger and his traveling party were removed from the flight, causing them to miss their onward connection in Denver.
It seems to me that (1) there should never have been a choice, the seat condition was not satisfactory for flying; (2) the passenger had a confirmed seat for the flight and was refused transportation, so is entitled to involuntary denied boarding compensation; and (3) having been boarded should not have been involuntarily removed from the aircraft.
It’s incumbent on the carrier to offer compensation and provide better re-accommodation here – not tell the passenger to pound sand because of poor aircraft maintenance (and a failure to notice the issue during a short turn on the ground in New Mexico).
A seat not properly secured to the floor could become a hazard during turbulence, takeoff, or landing Suggesting that only seatbelts were necessary, not a properly secured seat, is simply wrong.
Seat cushions are typically removable for maintenance or, in some cases, for use as flotation devices (as noted in the web search results about flotation seat cushions). A detached cushion alone might not render a seat unusable unless it affects the seatbelt’s functionality or the seat’s structural integrity. However, the cushion needs to reattach and not slip off to function properly with a seat belt to secure the passenger.
Would be interesting to know what the passenger should’ve done in this situation to get properly compensated
Agreed, Gary ! They should file a complaint with the DOT regarding the involuntary boarding and removal from the flight, and the FAA as it is technically a safety issue.
Shouldn’t the passenger file a complaint with the FAA and/or NTSB? This seems like it’s a safety violation. I would have also complained all the way up the chain at United – getting kicked off a flight because you noticed an issue that the FAs missed? Doesn’t someone walk up and down the aisles doing a check before they begin boarding? Besides the obvious lack of customer service, there’s a huge lack of maintenance here… Even for short haul with a third party carrier.
Isn’t it also on Skywest to share the blame?
Bingo, Gary and TexasTJ!
“It’s incumbent on the carrier to offer compensation and provide better re-accommodation here.”
We have rules and protections already, but we should legislate, update, and improve upon those, too. Compensation is necessary. Not just for safety issues, but also, for severe delays. Look to Canada’s APPR and the EU’s 261 rule. Consumers (passengers) deserve better.
A seat like that should immediately be inoperable and therefore not available for passenger use. If the flight was full the gate agent should have asked for volunteers like any other oversold situation and no takers if not at least provided involuntary bump compensation, an alternate flights and meals/lodging as needed.
I looked at the photo. The seat cushion seems to be attached with Velcro or the equivalent (this I have seen before). Properly positioning it and pushing it into position would probably have solved the problem (I’ve dealt with similar issues before including seatbelts not attached correctly and try to correct the problems myself if I can). Knowing that flight attendants on United don’t want to do anything prior to the airplane pushing back is probably why they didn’t fix the situation. If the customer doesn’t want to fly in that seat, they don’t want to fly in that seat. Not an involuntary denied boarding and a voluntary exit. Maybe it was a passenger who pulled the seat cushion off in a bid to get an upgrade to the front of the airplane. This seat cushion looks like it also is a flotation device.
Another tempest in a teapot.
The article doesn’t mention if the flight was full or not. If the flight was full, realistically, there was no other option than to give the passenger the choice of using the seat or taking a later flight. After all, neither the gate crew nor the flight crew has a magic wand to make the problem go away in the short time available.
In terms of compensation, it’s a mechanical issue and should be addressed accordingly, not an IVDB
in terms of safety, I see no safety issue presented, and the arguments to the contrary are simply “red herring“, “Bogeyman” conjecture.. The seat cushions are supposed to be removable, and typically attached with Velcro. If the Velcro wears out, put the cushion back, sit on it, fasten the safety belt, and the cushion is not going anywhere. No (safety) harm, no (safety) foul.
Let me be clear – I am not stating the customer is wrong here. However, these days, as we all know, flight attendants, gate agents, etc. are always right. Carriers have upper hand. I understand how the customer felt, but just be quiet, let it go. If they call the police, we would be removed.
United. Turd world airline.
This would never happen at Premium Airways.
Don’t know the full story here but if multiple seats had the same issue on a CRJ700 that’s a relatively high percentage of busted seats to fly in the first place. Wonder if anyone else not in the travelling party had one and chose to fly anyway,
I find this whole thing absurd! There appears to be nothing wrong with the seat cushion other than someone removed it. The straps and Velcro strips on the back of the cushion appear to be fine. This smells of fake news…
This type of thing is why I stopped flying SkyWest/United Express because this nonsense is becoming all too common.
I don’t see any damage to that seat or seat cushion, it seems like the passenger found it on the floor and, not realizing that they are removable, threw a bit of a tantrum and was kicked off the flight. The ultimatum of fly in the seat or leave the plane seems like it is really the only option and it looks like the seat was perfectly safe to fly in. I don’t think United can be held responsible for the passenger’s perception of what is wrong with the seat.
I would have reported it AFTER the flight
SFE airport is San Fernando, not Santa Fe.
San Fernando in the Phillipines.
There is nothing wrong with it!!! it just needs to be put back on. its designed that way to pull off for flotation device.
Is it April 1st again?
The FA or pax should have picked the cushion up, lined the Velcro up and….perfectly functional seat.
Seriously?
I won’t fly United for this reason. I had a business class ticket from SFO to London. The seat, last in the section would not go upright – nearly horizontal. My choice was to rebook – for the next month!, fly Economy (there were no plus in those days) with nothing to make up for it, or sit in the seat. I still get furious at them for the way they treated this issue.
Rude flight attendant? Likely. Unsafe seat? No. I would just put it back in place and sit. No big deal at all. This is sensationalism, pure and simple. It’s a classic case both parties preferring drama over solutions and just being buttholes.
That Skywest cares little about the functioning of its aircraft is nothing new. UA continues to contract with OO to fly some of the dingiest aircraft in the sky, and that has to stop. Honestly, I see UA as a fourth-tier carrier. There’s AS, then DL/WN, AA and then UA on the bottom of the legacy carriers. F9/NK/G9 are even lower. XP/MX are fly-by-night operations.
The more I think about this, the more I think that 1) the cushion just needed to be repositioned and 2) one or both parties (FA and pax) took this done the wrong path. Alas, in so many of these cases we never get the full story. My guess is the following. The pax could have, not knowing all these cushions are designed to detach like that, thought they were being asked to do something unsafe by sitting there. The FA insisted it was safe. The pax reacted poorly. If it was simply a detached seat that could be reattached to the default, safe condition and the pax was fussing, I wouldn’t blame a FA who would issue the ultimatum:
either fly with the perfectly safe seat
or get off the plane.
This is not a new thing! Over 10 years ago on an international flight with an infant and 2 children my seat fell on the floor as I stood up. I was told to put it back by myself. This was challenging as I had an infant in my arms with no bassinet to place him. It continued to fall on the floor every time I got up. No help from the crew what so ever. Was one of the worst experiences I’ve had on United.
Airline crew member here.
At international locations, most have security staff that “sweep” the airplane after one comes in, even on a turn (no crew change). They inspect everything after the passengers have left – overhead bins, seat backs, every single galley storage compartment and cart, the flight deck, and yes – under the seat cushions. Some places even require the crew to wait on the jetway while doing these checks (takes maybe 10 mins, depending on the aircraft size). Part of the process involves pulling up each and every seat cushion to inspect around and under it, then putting them back.
It always seems like a pointless exercise – the plane (and anything that might be found and considered “contraband”) is just going back to the US at that point, but they do it anyhow. Every time. It just feels like a local jobs program, keeping people employed.
Anyhow, yes – the cushions have Velcro on them to keep them in place. This seat just looks like one that wasn’t put back. I’ve seen that LOTS of times, where in their rush, they put a cushion back but the Velcro doesn’t catch, and the seat is misaligned, at an angle, or not put down properly (or at all). It isn’t “broken” and if it were, the pilots would need to document that in the logbook, and maintenance would have to come on board and put a “do not occupy” placard on the seat.
Something isn’t right here – it wouldn’t be the first time someone tried to claim “I got screwed!” on social media, hoping for attention, extra frequent flyer miles, or a free trip.
Looking at the location of the velcro strips on the chair vs the cushion, they look like they are in the wrong spots to attach. You would have to move the cushion velcro back or the seat velcro forward. The seat velcro seems to line up where where the access holes are in the seat now.
You can see where the cushion makes a 90 degree bend at the front (side touching the floor) for knee support, that the velcro is right at the bend. This is too far forward to attach to the velcro on the seat.
This might be that the cushion for this seat was swaped with one from a nearby seat, but that other seat’s passenger didn’t notice that their seat is not attched.