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Democratic Party legislator Roy Suryo tried to explain his side on Saturday after being escorted off a Lion Air flight bound for Yogyakarta that morning that he had caused to be delayed through a seat mix-up. 

“I felt that I was being framed and played,” Roy told a news conference in Jakarta. “No matter. I will accept the blame, although I didn’t make any mistakes.”

Roy said he wanted to give his side of the story after the incident quickly became a hot topic on Twitter.

A Twitter user identified as Ernest said he and a friend had boarded a 6:15 a.m. Lion Air flight to Yogyakarta only to find their seats occupied by the lawmaker and his wife. “When it was checked, it turned out that Roy Suryo’s tickets were for the 7:45 flight, not 6:15, but he refused to leave the plane, dropping the name of Lion Air’s director,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

Ernest said he and his friend decided to just leave the plane, but other passengers came to their support. After a 15-minute delay, the pilot, identified only as Capt. Vino, reportedly came out to ask what the problem was.

After receiving an explanation from a flight attendant, Ernest continued, the pilot walked back into the cockpit, grabbed his bag and left the plane, cursing government officials as he went and refusing to take off if Ernest and his friend were not on the plane.

Shortly after, a group of airport officials boarded the plane and asked Roy to disembark.

Roy told reporters he had been escorted by ground staff from the check-in counter to the plane, which, according to the lawmaker, was proof he had not made a mistake and that Ernest was spreading lies.

“I would never take someone else’s seat. I understand the regulations,” Roy said. “If I was due on another flight, staff should have informed me instead of escorting me to the plane.”

Edward Sirait, a spokesman for Lion Air, confirmed that Roy had been booked on the 7:45 a.m. flight, saying there seemed to have been a misunderstanding.

“We’re not sure how he was on the wrong flight,” he said. “Perhaps he misheard the boarding call, which always has the correct flight number and schedule.”

 

Antara