American Airlines Allegedly Mistreats Cancer Patient, Offloads At Delhi; DGCA To Probe

by Shreya Rathod
American Airlines Allegedly Mistreats Cancer Patient, Offloads At Delhi; DGCA To Probe

On 30th January, an American Airlines passenger, who was diagnosed with cancer, was reportedly off-loaded at the Delhi airport. She was supposed to travel from Delhi to New York after her surgery. Why was this lady deboarded from the flight? Here is what happened according to the passenger.

Passenger Deboarded From American Airlines Flight

american airlines
Credits: Wikimedia

Meenakshi Sengupta, a US-based patient, was supposed to travel from Delhi to New York after surgery. However, she was reportedly offloaded from the flight. According to her, she was in a wheelchair after her surgery. The ground staff was helpful and supportive and helped her get into the plane. And, on the flight, she had a conversation with the air hostess about her medical condition. Apparently, none of them had mentioned putting the handbag in the overhead bin. But as soon as the flight was about to take off, the air hostess asked her to put her handbag away. Moreover, refused to help her (the patient) saying “it’s not my job”.

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Even after repeatedly asking for help, the airline staff was indifferent to her medical condition. They also told her that she would be removed if failed to follow the instructions. They just kept asking that she should lift her own bag and put it in the overhead cabin.

This was the passenger’s narration of the incident that was reported.

Airlines Side Of The Story

American Airlines issued a statement saying that a disruptive passenger was offloaded from American Airlines flight 293 from Delhi to New York. According to them, the passenger failed to co-operate with their staff. Moreover, their customer relations team contacted the passenger for a refund of the unused seat.

The passenger had said that she received an email from the airline office in India saying that they won’t be able to rebook the tickets as per the remarks updated in the PNR.

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The Directorate General of Civil Aviation stated that they will look into the matter.

Cover Image Courtesy: Wikimedia