US Airways tells a different story, saying DeWitt was removed for being "disruptive," not because she had snapped a photograph.
"It's not what got her kicked off the plane," airline spokesman Todd Lehmacher said. "She boarded the plane, but once on the plane they were being disruptive. Other passengers asked to be moved away from them. The captain became involved because someone had cursed at the flight attendant."
DeWitt's account first surfaced on the photography website Pixiq.com. It was later posted on US Airways' Facebook page, with a photo of DeWitt, asking: "Do I look like a security risk?"
After arriving at Philadelphia International Airport for Flight 1155, DeWitt said her husband, Robert, asked the gate agent about sitting in the emergency-exit row, or at least together on the plane. "We had seat assignments, but not together," she said. "My husband complained to me how rude the airline representative was. I heard people around me complaining."
DeWitt planned to write a letter to US Airways about the agent, whose name tag read "Toniana G." She said she snapped the agent's photo while her husband was boarding, but the image was not clear.
Once seated on the plane, the agent boarded and "demanded I delete the image I had taken. I complied," DeWitt said. "She then asked for my boarding pass, and my husband's boarding pass."
Michael Lofton, a US Airways manager, asked the couple to gather their belongings and leave the plane. Off the plane, he offered them a US Airways flight at 9 the following night.
"I had animals at home, and heart medication that I had not prepared for an additional day of travel," she said.
The couple flew to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Southwest Airlines that night. They had been in Washington to attend the funeral of Robert DeWitt's father.
Contact staff writer Linda Loyd
at 215-854-2831 or lloyd@phillynews.com.
