Booted From Allegiant Flight, Sisters Miss Chance to Say Goodbye to Dying Dad

Two siblings rushing to their father’s deathbed say an overzealous Allegiant Air flight attendant who reported the grieving sisters as a threat, cost the pair a final chance to be with their Dad.

Sisters Debbie Hartman and Trisha Baker say that they were already on their way to see their ailing father when they learned that it could be their very last visit. The siblings say that because of an “inhumane” flight attendant on the Allegiant Air flight from Orlando International Airport (MCO) to Asheville Regional Airport (AVL), that final family visit never happened.

Baker says she learned via text message that her father was close to death as the plane was waiting in line on the taxiway at MCO. She explained that she immediately went to be with her sister, who was seated elsewhere on the aircraft.

This was an action that drew the flight attendant’s attention for obvious reasons.

“She said, ‘You need to sit down,’ and I said, ‘Well, can I just sit here? I just want to console my sister. We just got word that my dad’s dying,’” Baker told Orlando CBS affiliate WKMG.

“[Baker] said ‘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 recounted, explaining that the situation soon escalated and the sisters were escorted from the flight after she suffered what she described as a panic attack. “They told us we were a threat to the flight. I couldn’t believe it.”

Hartman says that although the airline can never make up for costing her and her sister a final chance to be with to their father, she would like to see some consequences for those responsible.

“I would like to see them in some way be punished in a way where people understand. This is not humane,” Hartman told reporters. “One hundred thousand percent I blame them. They were the gate between keeping me from my father to say goodbye.”

It is worth noting that according to their own account of the incident, the sisters appear to have violated several safety rules and were at least somewhat uncooperative before being removed from the flight. Despite her noble intentions, Baker seems to have admitted to using her mobile phone and moving about the cabin after the plane had left the gate and was preparing for takeoff. In media reports, the sisters also appear to confirm their own reluctance to follow the crew member’s instructions.

The airline is promising to fully investigate the incident.

“At Allegiant we rely on our crew members to provide and oversee a safe environment for every passenger, on every flight,” Allegiant officials told CBS News in a statement. “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.”

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