A Florida woman has filed suit against United Airlines and its contracted workers after she says they literally dropped her while helping her out of a wheelchair to board a flight last year.
WFLA is reporting that Erica Fulton, a resident of Largo, Florida, was in Houston last September on her way to visit her son and purchased a first-class ticket for priority boarding and the extra room. Fulton requires the use of a wheelchair.
When an airport worker helped her board the plane, she said he told her, "Trust me, I've got you," as she stood up from the wheelchair to get into her seat.
The worker apparently did not have her.
"Once he got me totally upright, I just saw this look of panic in his face and I said, 'Oh my God, he's gonna drop me,' " Fulton told the television station.
Fulton fell inward from the aisle, hit her shoulder on the window and hit the floor. She said she required surgery for a torn muscle and that her wheelchair was also damaged.
"The pain was excruciating. I had tears rolling down my face," she said.
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United released a statement to WFLA saying, ""We hold all of our vendors to high standards and strive to provide great service to all of our customers. We sincerely apologize to Ms. Fulton for her experience while traveling with us and have covered the cost of the repair to the wheelchair."
But Fulton has filed a lawsuit nonetheless saying she has accumulated more than $200,000 in medical bills during the last nine months because of the incident and that United and its contracted companies should pay it.
"It turned into just the flight from hell," said Fulton.
United made no mention of the medical bills and does not comment on pending lawsuits.
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