A woman is accusing Alaska Airlines of disability discrimination because it booted her entire family off a plane after her brother with Down syndrome vomited, according to a report.
The teen had just boarded Flight 779 in St. Louis on Monday when he became ill and flight attendants asked him and his parents to deplane, , citing the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
“After boarding the flight, Patrick threw up a little and the airline workers kicked my family off the flight,” said Meaghan Hess, who was not traveling with her family members, whom the airline booked on a flight the next morning.
But Alaska Airlines did not pay for accommodations, said Hess, who fumed that a representative told her dad they were extending a courtesy by rebooking them on another flight.
The airline left them “stranded at the airport for nearly 11 hours knowing that my family had nowhere to go for the night,” Hess told NBC News.
“Instead, all they did was hand my parents a black garbage bag, saying that my brother could just throw up in that,” she said.
Hess shared a tweet from the airline rep, who said: “I’m truly sorry for your family’s experience. Safety of all passengers is our number one priority.
“I am glad to see that we re-booked them at no fee in the morning. I apologize that we cannot provide hotels in these situations.”
Airline spokeswoman Ann Johnson later told NBC News that the teen presented a possible health threat.
“The family was not able to depart on their original flight because the family’s child was visibly ill,” she said. “Out of an abundance of caution the agent determined that the child was not fit to fly.
“In the case of a medical-related situation, it is safer for guests to be treated on the ground, as our crew are not trained medical professionals,” she said.
The family was ultimately upgraded to first class, where the cabin crew provided her brother with “a black trash bag” for the trip to Seattle, Hess said.
But she remained dissatisfied with the airline’s response, calling it “disability discrimination.”
“I can’t help but think if a non-disabled child that threw up, would the airline have kicked that family off the flight,” she said.