JetBlue Left Woman with Alzheimer's at Airport

Image: PHOTO: A collection of airport wheelchairs. (photo via Flickr/Daniel Lobo)
Image: PHOTO: A collection of airport wheelchairs. (photo via Flickr/Daniel Lobo)
Donald Wood
by Donald Wood
Last updated: 12:10 AM ET, Fri July 14, 2017

A family in Boston has a major gripe with an airline at Logan International Airport after a grandmother with Alzheimer's disease was left unattended at a gate for several hours.

According to The Associated Press, the woman, identified as 74-year-old Carmen Courchesne, was supposed to be flying from Massachusetts to Florida with help from JetBlue's wheelchair assistance program when something went wrong.

Courchesne's daughter Denise Chase said JetBlue employees took her mother to the gate, but when her flight changed gates, she was left behind and not helped onto the airplane. Courchesne's family was unaware of the incident until they arrived at the airport in Florida to pick her up.

"They said, 'Oh don't worry. When you have wheelchair assistance they stay with them and get them to the gate at the right time,' and that never happened," Chase told Fox25Boston. "They must've just left her at the gate."

[READMORE]READ MORE: Airline Reportedly Left Child Alone in New Jersey Airport[/READMORE]

After finding out about the mistake, JetBlue reportedly booked Courchesne into a hotel for the night and provided a new flight itinerary for the following day. Unfortunately, the new flight had three connections and the woman was separated from her luggage containing her Alzheimer's medicine.

In response, a JetBlue spokesperson released a statement saying the airline "regrets the incident and is reviewing the events that led up to it."


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