Two sisters have called out Allegiant Air and are seeking punishment for one of the budget carrier's flight crews after they were removed from a flight hours before their ill father passed away.
Debbie Hartman and Trisha Baker told WKMG-TV they were set to travel from Sanford, Florida, to Asheville, North Carolina, to visit their father in hospice care Monday.
However, before the plane left the tarmac, Baker said she received a text message informing her that her father had just hours to live. After getting up from her seat to tell her sister, Baker was told to sit back down by one of the flight attendants.
The situation began to intensify when Hartman began having a panic attack, prompting Baker to confront the crew member.
"(My sister) said (to the flight attendant), 'You're being very rude. My father is dying, and I'm comforting her,' and they said she needed to keep her personal problems off the plane," Hartman told WKMG.
The sisters said that in a matter of minutes the crew alerted the flight's captain, who turned back to the gate to allow airport security to remove them from the plane.
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Hartman said other passengers were also confused and complained about the crew's handling of the situation. In a YouTube post, one passenger aboard the flight called it "the most inhumane, deplorable thing I've ever seen any human being do."
"I would like to see them in some way be punished in a way where people understand. This is not humane. One hundred thousand percent I blame them. They were the gate between keeping me from my father to say goodbye," Hartman told WKMG.
In an emailed statement to WKMG, the airline said it has launched an investigation into the incident.
"At Allegiant, we rely on our crew members to provide and oversee a safe environment for every passenger, on every flight," the airline stated. "We expect that authority to be exercised both judiciously and consistently, with empathy and with good judgment. We take this customer feedback seriously and are in the process of conducting an investigation into what occurred."
Given the consequences of their missed flight, it's unlikely any outcome of the airline's investigation will provide the sisters much solace.
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