Girl kicked off plane for coughing
Filed under: Teachers, High school, Air travel
School trips are rough. Getting sick on a school trip is even worse. Harder still, is when, at 16, you're kicked off the fight home because you're having a coughing fit -- so you're left alone with a teacher in New York City with no accommodation while your bags head back to Hawaii without you.
That's what happened to Rachel Collier right before her flight to Honolulu took off. After boarding with her classmates and promptly falling asleep, the high school student woke up coughing and gasping for air. Even though a doctor on the flight said she'd be fine for the 10-hour flight, and she'd be given water by flight attendents, the Continental Airlines pilot kicked her off.
Collier finally made it back to Hawaii the following day, with one of her teachers who stayed behind to make sure she got home safely.
Of course the airline has released statements saying the pilot felt he was acting in the best interest of the other passengers, and I'm sure he thought he was -- but could this really have been the best course of action? Why would the pilot assume he had more medical knowledge than the doctor on board? It doesn't sound like the coughing fit was delaying the flight -- so why the knee-jerk reaction?
If I was her parent, I'd be pissed.
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