Spirit Accused of Neglecting Wheelchair-Bound Man at FLL

Spirit Airlines is being taken to task for an awful ordeal suffered by a wheelchair-bound man.

The Miami New Times reports Holmer Avellan was left for hours without any assistance while he waited at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL).

Initially, the family had filed a lawsuit against the airline citing the Air Carrier Access Act, which the report reminds “forbids discrimination against people with disabilities in air travel.”

Mr. Avellan has since passed away according to an update to the story, something completely unrelated to the incident with Spirit Airlines. The lawsuit, then, has been rescinded but the family continues to hold onto the possibility that Avellan’s estate would return with another suit at a later date.

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While, for the moment, the legislative aspect of the story is over the public relations phase is not, because Avellan’s time at FLL sounds like an utter nightmare.

According to the family’s account, the man was heading from Nicaragua to New York and had a layover in FLL.

Avellan’s wife, Jeannette, was assured that Spirit employees would cater to her husband and assist him between flights.

Instead, Avellan was purportedly left to sit in his wheelchair for what is described as hours.

No exact time is given, but one considers that his wife was waiting for him to get off in New York City and when he wasn’t on the plane, and only then, did she contact Spirit.

She received no response so contacted her sister who lives in the Fort Lauderdale area. Thankfully, the sister was around to look for Mr. Avellan who had, at that point, missed his medicine, had no water and had reportedly soiled himself.

Without the use of his arms and little in the way of speech because of a stroke, Avellan was forced to stay in one position for the duration of all the events that transpired above.

Finally, he was discovered by family. And, according to the previous lawsuit: “He burst into tears upon seeing his sister and niece. One of [Spirit's] employees or agents advised that Mr. Avellan had been there in that position since the beginning of that person's shift.”

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Spirit Airlines has no comment from the New Times and has purportedly met Jeannette Avellan’s complaints with apathy.

This marks yet another unfortunate turn for the airline who earlier this week saw a brawl break out at the same airport because of mass cancellations.

While cancellations are truly frustrating, the airline absolutely needs to answer for some truly astounding claims.

We can’t fathom the pain and anguish Avellan had to endure, stuck in one position for hours as one person after another ignored his existence.

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