American Airlines de-board cancer patient for seeking help with bag

New Delhi: A New York-bound American Airlines flight allegedly asked to de-board a female passenger, a cancer patient who recently underwent surgery, after she sought assistance from the cabin crew to load her handbag in the overhead luggage rack, Asian News International reported.

The incident happened on January 30, and it came to the public's notice after the woman filed a complaint with the police. The passenger, Meenakshi Sengupta, filed a complaint against the particular flight attendant who refused to help her with the bag, which weighed more than 2.3 kg. She was in need of a helping hand due to weak limbs, her complaint stated.

However, what the airline said in an official statement was "a disruptive customer was removed" from the flight since the customer did not follow the crew member's instructions.

Meenakshi said in her complaint that she had requested wheelchair assistance due to her health condition. She was wearing a brace which was visible to everyone and proved that she has discomfort as well as cannot carry weight in her hands. She was weak from the surgery, she said.

According to her, the ground staff was very supportive, helped her to her seat inside the craft and placed her handbag on the side seat. She had explained her health condition to one of the crew, and none of them asked her to put the bag away before takeoff. But when the flight was about to take off, an air hostess approached her and instructed her to put the bag overhead, and then she requested her help for assistance, but the hostess replied arrogantly that it was not her job.

Meenakshi says that her repeated requests were ignored. The hostess was rude and used arrogant words. When she met the other members of the crew to complain, they were indifferent and did not wish to interfere in the matter at all. They asked her to de-board if she was so uncomfortable.

The incident went viral on social media, and people asked the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) to take note.

India's aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), took cognisance and asked American Airlines to submit a report.

But the airline said that its Customer Relations team communicated with Meenakshi and initiated a refund of the unused portion of her ticket fare.

ANI quoted the statement, "On January 30, prior to the departure of American Airlines flight 293 from Delhi (DEL) to New York (JFK), a disruptive customer was removed from the aircraft for failure to follow crew member instructions. Our Customer Relations team has reached out to the customer to refund the unused portion of their ticket."