Karen Shiboleth, who The Sun says is from a family of wealthy Manhattan lawyers, is suing United after the incident on a flight from New York to London last September.
She claims she paid more than £2,400 to upgrade to business class but that after only 20 minutes, a gate agent rushed onto the aircraft and demanded she move back to economy from the front cabin, which had several vacant seats.
Shiboleth claims the agent grabbed her arm and forced her to walk to the back of the aircraft, swearing at her. She was later offered less than £600 in vouchers but is suing for nearly £125,000 in damages.
The incident came to light after United was damaged by images of a bloodied passenger being dragged from his seat earlier this month to allow staff members to fly.
United told Shiboleth that its ’goal is to provide all our customers with a great travel experience’, but said that as a civil case had been filed, it was unable to comment further.
