Passenger Thrown Off Plane - She Says She Was Only Trying To Change Seats

INSIDE EDITION has the exclusive story of one woman who claims she was dragged off an airplane, arrested, and thrown in jail for three days.

Jean Mamakos, a 68-year-old former nurse, says she had a not so friendly flying experience on a United Airlines flight.

She told INSIDE EDITION, “It was embarrassing, it was destructive." 

In a video, she could be seen being dragged down the isle of a United Airlines passenger plane just moments before takeoff. Jean was traveling to Alaska for a group ski trip and says it all started when she attempted to move seats before takeoff.

“I wanted to go to a row that had three empty seats. A stewardess says, ‘Oh no you don’t, I know what you are trying to do’ and so I stayed in my own seat,” she said.

Then, Jean tried to move again, this time to an exit row.

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She recalled, “Then a stewardess came up to me and said, ‘Give me your credit card.’ I said, ‘How much more is it?’ and she said, ‘$109.’ So, when she said that, $109, I said, ‘No, I think I’ll go back to my own seat.’ So, that's what I did.”

Jean says she returned to her original seat but the police officers were already on their way.

In the video, the officers asked her, “Do you want to come with us willingly or do you want to be charged with trespassing?”

She replied, “Do what you have to do.”

In the video Jean can be seen being dragged by the arms down the aisle.

She told INSIDE EDITION, “They proceeded to take me out of the seat physically, mangling my shoulder and my elbow and my knees and dragging me out of the plane.”

INSIDE EDITION’s Steven Fabian asked, “Why chose to resist in the moment?”

She replied, “When they say that I was in the chair that I had paid for, I think they should have honored it.”

Jean was charged with trespassing and resisting arrest and spent three days in jail. The incident happened last year but the video is now emerging.

A statement from United Airlines said: "Our employees asked that this customer be removed because she was disruptive and, despite repeated attempts to work with her, she kept them from preparing the flight for departure."

Her ski vacation with her friends was ruined.

Fabian said, “It had to really hurt to know that your friends went and got to enjoy the ski trip.”

Jean declared, “It was a bitch.”

 The ex-nurse is suing for $5 million and United Airlines says the lawsuit is "Without merit."