EasyJet Allows 94-Year-Old “Semi-Conscious” Passenger to Board, Dies In Flight
Jeff Edwards November 18, 2015
EasyJet officials are answering questions over a decision to allow a “barely conscious” passenger to board a plane shortly before her tragic mid-flight death.
EasyJet is defending itself against charges that employees of the European budget carrier improperly allowed a “semi-conscious” 94-year-old passenger to board a November 9 flight bound from Murcia–San Javier Airport (MJV) in Spain to London Gatwick Airport (LGW) despite the fact that the woman was visibly unwell. The elderly passenger stopped breathing 20 minutes after takeoff and did not survive long enough for the flight to divert to Toulouse Blagnac Airport (TLS) in France for emergency medical care.
Now, one of the passengers who desperately tried to save the dying passenger’s life says the obviously ailing woman should have never been allowed to fly in the first place. Clare Tellam believes the stricken woman would still be alive if the airline had acted before the plane departed.
“In Murcia there was an old lady asleep in a wheelchair,” Tellam told the Telegraph. “EasyJet staff spoke to her before the flight but she wasn’t fully conscious and I thought, no way is that lady getting on our plane.”
The wheelchair-bound passenger was eventually allowed to board the flight and the results were tragic.
Tellam says she was the first person to discover that her fellow passenger was in trouble. The 50-year-old woman, who works as a swimming instructor, helped to perform CPR on the unconscious woman, but sadly says it was too late to help save the woman.
“When I woke up I thought, ‘That lady is not breathing,'” Tellam said. “To be honest, I think she had already died at that point.”
EasyJet officials confirmed the unfortunate incident and told the Telegraph that “our thoughts are with the family and friends of the passenger,” but insisted that the airline was not to blame.
“Our ground staff followed all procedures and checks correctly ahead of boarding, including consulting with her family at check-in and ensuring the passenger had a valid fitness-to-fly certificate from her doctor,” An EasyJet spokesperson said in a statement. “Our crew did all possible to save the life of the passenger, along with a nurse who was assisting onboard.”
The airline says that it is formally reviewing the tragic event and will make any improvements to training and procedures that are deemed necessary.
[Photo: Getty]
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gate agents are not medically trained generally. tellem, as a nurse, did nothing to stop the old woman from being put on the plane, so doesn't she bare more of the moral blame here by not speaking up?
Tragic? Come on, she's 94. Didn't a pilot just die in flight? That's tragic. I doubt she was perceptively "sick" to her family. Or the cab driver that brought her. Maybe it was a last wish trip? Maybe she'd rather die with her boots on? My mother is in her 90s and will be flying to stay for the holidays. She clearly has way more past than future. It will be so painful to lose her even if she's 120, but no worse if she goes peacefully on an airplane (sorry for distress to others, of course) than in an ED or hospice, And, please, don't code her.
Exactly. Who brought this lady to the airport and just left her there? She got through ticketing, security and all the way to the gate in a semi-conscious state and was just left there? I guess stranger things have happened.
If she was 'obviously ailing' why did the family bring her to the airport? Couldn't they figure it out? Hmmmmmmm Or, Could they????