United removed couple flying to their wedding after 'switching seats for sleeping passenger'

A US couple en route to their wedding said they were removed from a United Airlines flight by a marshal after they reportedly changed seats to allow a passenger to continue sleeping in their seats.

But the airline said the couple from Salt Lake City, Utah, had tried to jump up to another class and refused to return to their assigned seats following repeated requests.

Michael Hohl and his fiancé Amber Maxwell were flying to Costa Rica for their wedding on Saturday when they boarded a flight at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, to find someone stretched out sleeping in their seats, NBC reports.

The couple decided they would leave the passenger resting, and moved to another row of empty seats they claimed were in the same economy class.

When a United flight attendant approached them, the soon-to-be married couple asked if they could be upgraded from their assigned seats but were turned down.

The couple claims they calmly returned to their seats but a short time later a US Marshal appeared on board and escorted the couple from the flight.

The couple were placed on a flight the following day and made their wedding on time but the airline's treatment left the perplexed.

"We thought not a big deal, it's not like we are trying to jump up into a first-class seat," Mr Hohl told NBC

"We were simply in an economy row a few rows above our economy seat."

That story was refuted by a United Airlines spokesman who said the couple made repeated requests and attempts to be upgraded but were knocked back.

"These passengers repeatedly attempted to sit in upgraded seating which they did not purchase and they would not follow crew instructions to return to their assigned seats," the spokesman said.

The Daily Mail reports the couple had been trying to sit in Economy Plus seats and there were no US Marshals or police involved with their removal from the flight.

The couple were booked on another flight on Sunday.

The story comes in a horror week for United after several videos emerged showing police dragging a bloodied and battered doctor in his 60s from his seat after he refused to surrender it for the airline's staff.

Passengers on the flight and airline travellers around the world were left shocked by the treatment captured in a plethora of videos that showed Dr David Dao being "re-accommodated" by several police officers.

He is now preparing to sue the airline.