TAMPA, Fla. — In March last year, two couples boarded a United Airlines flight in Tampa for the first leg of a trip to Europe. They were ready for takeoff when agents kicked them off the plane with no explanation.
Retired school teachers Wendi and Rob Meehan booked a bucket list tour of Europe. Wendi said she planned every detail of the trip, down to picking flight seats for her husband and parents.
“We were going to do a river cruise; we were going to start in Amsterdam," Wendi said.
Boarding passes showed the Meehans, Wendi's father, William Winger, and mom, Donna, set to fly United from Tampa to Chicago on March 23. Then they were set to fly on to Amsterdam via Lufthansa.
Wendi told ABC Action News they checked into their flight the day before takeoff.
“We checked our luggage, got our boarding passes, went through security," Wendi said.
The group boarded the plane. United even bumped Wendi's parents, frequent United fliers, to first class. Wendi said what happened next came as a shock.
“This gentleman came on, and he said to my parents, I need your passports,” she said.
Then, the Meehans said another United employee quickly approached their group and asked them to get off the plane. Her husband, Rob, described it as more of an order than a request.
United Airlines staff escorted the foursome back to the gate, but the family said the agents' only explanation was a problem with their tickets.
The Meehans used Wholesale Flights to book the round-trip tickets. But Lufthansa, a United partner airline, charged her card over $3,700.
So what went wrong?
ABC Action News asked the airline, and in an email, United sent this response:
“The Winger family used a travel agency that was restricted from selling United tickets. Their reservation was ticketed under Lufthansa; however, the first leg of their trip was on United. The agency received several “unauthorized sell” messages to alert them of the issue on the itinerary. The United reservation was issued as a “paper ticket” – meaning, a gate agent would need to review their reservation upon boarding (which is how they were able to clear check-in, security, etc). It’s understood that the gate agent allowed the Winger family to board before syncing their ticket in an effort to keep from delaying the flight. Immediately after the agent attempted to clear the ticket, they found the issues with the reservation, which is why the customers needed to be taken off the plane.”
We reached out to Wholesaleflights.com but did not receive a response.
But the Meehans have a credit card receipt that showed they used the same website, the one the carrier said was unauthorized to sell United tickets, to book another United flight out of Tampa the next day.
ABC Action News asked United Airlines how that was possible, but United responded, “We don’t have any further information to share.”
The group missed the tour of Amsterdam and lost $500 in non-refundable plane tickets to Portugal. Wendi expected United to make them whole.
The airline sent a letter of apology and four $150 vouchers for future travel. For their part, Lufthansa refunded the cost of the original tickets.
Wendi Meehan said it was insufficient, and they would never fly United Airlines again.
“That is what you would offer after everything you put us through?” Wendi asked.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Transportation told ABC Action News it would review the complaint and contact the carrier.
If you have a complaint about problems with a flight, you can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation.
