Girl kicked off airplane for coughing

[madoka]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070330/ap_on_re_us/coughing_passenger

I agree with the airline. If she is coughing uncontrollably, then it's in her best interests to be on land. Not to mention the dozens of people who now would feel uncomfortable in the least to have to sit next to her for the next 10 hours and catch whatever she has. The parents seem selfish for being so outraged. She had to wait one more day and saved possibly dozens of people from being sick for days.

Also reminds of the Indiana girl who came home from a trip to Romania with measles and caused the largest outbreak in the U.S. in a decade.

 

[dornoforpyros]

yup me too, I think the airline was acting in everyone's best interest, the girl got home safe the next day and it says the airline reimbursed them for the cost of the extra day in NY.

If this was enough of a coughing fit that the girl couldn't speak then keeping her on the ground for 1 day doesn't seem like a bad idea.

 

[emw]

So being sick on a flight is now enough to get you kicked off? Can't wait till I have to start peeing in a cup at security so they can run some tests.

While I can understand that she may have been coughing uncontrollably for a short time, we've all been there, and it would likely have subsided without any major issues. Kicking her off the plane with nowhere to go seems a little extreme, even with the chaperone there. That's fairly traumatic for a young person.

Besides, there were probably 10 or 20 other sick people on the plane who just didn't happen to be coughing then - what if they started while in flight? Would the pilot have made an emergency landing to make sure no one else got a cold? What's the limit on coughing? 10 coughs? 20? 2? She likely presented no significant danger to any passengers, and even had a doctor's okay.

 

[adk]

So being sick on a flight is now enough to get you kicked off? Can't wait till I have to start peeing in a cup at security so they can run some tests.

This is not a security issue, it is an issue of safety and well-being for the other 250+ passengers and crew on board.

She likely presented no significant danger to any passengers, and even had a doctor's okay.

It doesn't matter if she had God's okay, she didn't have the captain's. The captain is ultimately in charge of all aspects of the flight, and he can give passengers the boot for basically any reason he wants (legally speaking, I'm not saying there won't be ramifications from the airline).

 

[devilot]

This is not a security issue, it is an issue of safety and well-being for the other 250+ passengers and crew on board.

Right, because for decades now, commercial airlines have never ever had anyone with any sort of illness, much less a cold go on board.

 

[adk]

Right, because for decades now, commercial airlines have never ever had anyone with any sort of illness, much less a cold go on board.

It's a little easier to spot the girl coughing so badly she can't even talk than to see who has a cold, etc. I could debate with your for days, but instead I simply ask you to read your contract of carriage the next time you fly. This contract (that you accept by flying) clearly states that the captain/crew can remove you from the flight for ANY reason. The fact of the matter is that whether or not the girl should have been removed, the captain was absolutely right in doing so, no matter what the reason.

 

[emw]

This is not a security issue, it is an issue of safety and well-being for the other 250+ passengers and crew on board.

Please. She had a cold. Next time you fly, think about how many people with colds have wiped their nose and rubbed it on your armrest compared with how often that armrest is disinfected (hint: never), then tell me how much of a threat this girl presented to the passengers.

The fact of the matter is that whether or not the girl should have been removed, the captain was absolutely right in doing so, no matter what the reason.

The fact that that captain was within his rights does not make it right. Certainly without all of the facts I, unlike, apparently, you, cannot say with absolute certainty that the captain made a bonehead move, but it sure sounds like he jumped the gun in kicking her off the plane because she was coughing.

 

[hana]

Well, I haven't seen the video.

But I could understand how a pilot could have a constantly coughing young girl taken off an airplane the same way I could tell my constantly coughing officemate (cubicle or no) to GO HOME after an hour of coughing in an office...where I could occaisionally excuse myself to other parts of the office, etc.

You just can't get away from the situation sort of like:
= constantly barking dog
= constantly fighting neighbors
= constantly smoking neighbors underneath my balcony

except in those cases, to some extend you can get away.

 

[xsedrinam]

I still don't know what to make of all this. It seems a little extreme to be pulled from a flight for a coughing spell, in light of a Dr.'s attention on board and reportedly clearing her to fly. I haven't read anything that states she continued uncontrollably, after the initial episode, but there must have been something to have triggered the captain's decision. Either way, Continental will take some hits on the deal.

 

[hana]

As for people who fly with colds and other nasty illnesses (but don't cough), yes, there's a whole bunch of those. People who have deadlines or big investments in their non-refundable airline ticket that fly every single day.

The last flight I took was one to Asia:
1. Every two seats, a passenger was wearing a surgical mask. (It seems that it is a custom in some asian countries when one is sick to put on a mask and go on with life.)
2. I'm guessing a few of the masked ones were not sick but germaphobic enough to wear a mask to try to minimize their exposure to sick people.
3. The passenger sitting next to me had a mask on. During the flight, she was coughing. She took some pills out of a plastic bag during her flight and had some wine. Halfway through my dinner, she vomited into her clear headphone bag, and went back to the galley for a few hours to sleep it off. Then she returned to her seat with a large paper plastic lined bag.

And that's why I don't like air travel.....

 

[dornoforpyros]

Maybe it's the fact that I took 9 flights in the course of 4 weeks recently, but I still think the captain was within his rights. He made a judgement call which unfortunately has turned into a headline on a slow news day.

Airlines are staffed by people, and people make judgement calls every day. Just because this one is in the news doesn't make it wrong.

I wonder what everyone's reaction would be if the story had been titled "Sick passenger removed from flight"

 

[devilot]

I don't think any of us believe the captain wasn't acting within his rights. Even so, it doesn't mean his actions weren't necessarily an overreaction. That's the point I (and I believe emw) was trying to make.

 

[dornoforpyros]

I don't think any of us believe the captain wasn't acting within his rights. Even so, it doesn't mean his actions weren't necessarily an overreaction. That's the point I (and I believe emw) was trying to make.

ok then let me clarify, I don't think the captain was wrong for making this decision.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

well it one thing for them to kick her off the plane. The thing that I see that was unacceptable it is seem continual did not find them accommodation and by the looks of it their luggage was still on the plane. That is the unacceptable part. I think now they deserve full refund and a free flight out there along with being refunded any money they spent for finding a place to stay.