A terminally ill woman and her family were forced off of a plane in Malaga, Spain on Monday when her oxygen canisters were deemed a security issue, the Manchester Evening News reported.
Eighty-two-year-old Dorothy Rostron, who suffers from a chronic lung condition, and three family members were taken off their return flight to Manchester by easyJet, which doesn't allow passengers to carry liquid oxygen containers for safety reasons.
The family told the Evening News that they were forced to pay out more than $3,100 in travel insurance and arrange for emergency oxygen during the wait.
Rostron and her family eventually booked a return flight back to England on Norwegian Airlines.
"My wife contacted EasyJet with details of the oxygen canisters. They said the type was ok," Rostron's son-in-law Donnie Doran told the Evening News. "The trip going out from Manchester was fine. When we arrived, they looked after us. The return flight has been horrendous."
Doran called the situation a "disability discrimination."
"We provided all of the information. If they had a problem, they should not have allowed us to fly with them in the first place," he told the Evening News.
EasyJet eventually apologized for the incident, attempting to explain why it settled on its final decision.
"EasyJet apologizes that a passenger was denied travel from flight EZY1924 flying from Malaga to Manchester on 19 December as a result of having conflicting paperwork to support the use of their own oxygen supply during the flight," the British low-cost carrier said in a statement to the Evening News.
"EasyJet allows passengers to carry up to two oxygen cylinders free of charge with a doctor's note specifying the requirement for carriage. However, this cannot be liquid oxygen."
"Unfortunately the oxygen this passenger was carrying was produced by a company called Liquid Oxygen which was clearly stated on the bottle. As a result of this extra checks needed to be carried out in order for them to receive clearance to fly with the oxygen," added the airline. "Our ground staff advised the passenger of this and offered overnight accommodation and a free of charge transfer onto the next available flight. The passenger decided to travel with an alternate carrier back to the U.K. today."
"The safety and wellbeing of its passengers and crew is easyJet's highest priority."
Doran said the family waited up to 45 minutes on the plane before being ordered to leave and said they "have never been so embarrassed in our lives."
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