Dr. Donna Beegle was flying from Orlando, Florida to Portland, Oregan with her husband and 15-year-old daughter, who is autistic, when they were forced off the flight because the pilot refused to fly with 15-year-old Juliette on board.
Talking to KPTV, Donna said that Juliette had refused to eat the snacks the family had brought so she asked the flight attendant for a hot meal, explaining that her daughter was “very particular about her food”.
Initially told that only first class passengers could avail of the hot meal, a flight attendant then brought the teen food and Juliette immediately calmed down.
However, while the youngster was eating her meal and watching Pocahontas, the plane made an emergency announcement, stating: “We will be making an unexpected landing in Salt Lake due to a passenger in the back having issues.” When asked why, Donna was told that “the captain doesn't feel comfortable flying to Portland with your daughter on the flight'"
Not surprising, Donna was outraged and took to Facebook to write: "As [a] mom I could not stand the way Juliette was being treated. This was a sheer case of ignorance. Prejudice, ignorance and mistreatment are all too common toward people facing poverty."
United Airlines issued the following statement in response to Donna: "After working to accommodate Dr Beegle and her daughter during the flight, the crew made the best decision for the safety and comfort of all of our customers and elected to divert to Salt Lake City after the situation became disruptive. We rebooked the customers on a different carrier and the flight continued to Portland."
Footage of the family being removed form the flight has been uploaded to YouTube and you can hear passengers asking them to keep the family on board.
Sadly this is not the first time a family has been forced to leave an aeroplane after a 19-month-old was deemed a “security breach”.
