Southwest Airlines is being criticised for failing to communicate changes to its five-hour delayed flight as two disabled women were left behind as the flight took off without them
An airline has been slammed after two women who are both blind were left behind by a plane and told by staff “we forgot about you.”
Southwest Airlines is being criticised for failing to communicate changes to its five-hour delayed flight from New Orleans to Orlando on July 24.
Friends Camille Tate and Sherri Brun were left stranded after the pair were at the airport waiting by the gate, checking the airline’s app for any updates.
However, they were the only two people on the flight when they boarded. “You’re the only two people on this flight because they forgot about you,” Sherri Bun said the two were told.
According to the airline, because the flight was delayed, nearly all of the passengers on the original flight were re-booked on another Southwest flight to Orlando that departed a little earlier from a different gate. It comes after a furious tourist was just ‘offered £21 by easyJet’ after being stranded in Turkey.
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Sherri and Camillie were the only two passengers not re-booked on the flight. They even admitted they had no idea another flight was an option.
“Nobody at B6 told us anything. Nobody came to get us at B4. The time passed,” said Sherri. “That airplane took off, and our boarding pass had not been swiped,” said Camille.
The pair remains stunned that they weren’t on the flight. They want the airline to improve its communication to people with disabilities.
“The way they help their customers that require additional assistance needs to change. There needs to be follow through,” said Sherri.
“There needs to be some improvement in how they communicate with their passengers especially those that have disabilities,” Camille added.
The friends were offered an £80 voucher as compensation for the delay, but weren’t eligible for a full refund as the flight departed.
Southwest Airlines has since apologised for the embarrassing incident. It said: “The Customers were scheduled on Flight 2637. Although it ran almost five hours late that day, it remained their same flight number throughout.
“We issued the $100 vouchers as compensation for the delayed travel, but a refund is not available if a Customer actually completes the flight.
“It appears the confusion about a plane coming back to get them might be because many of the Customers on that flight were accommodated on another MCO-bound flight that left a little earlier from a nearby gate. These two Customers were not re-booked on that flight, so their assigned gate never changed. Our records show they flew to MCO on the airplane that had been parked at their original gate.
“As far as accessibility policies, all of our information is found on the Disability-Related Accommodations section of the Help Center. For Customers who are blind, escort and navigation assistance is available from the airport curb to and from gates and between gates for connecting flights.
“To receive assistance, Customers must identify themselves and the type of assistance they require to a Southwest Employee when they arrive at the airport, at any connection points, and when they land at their destination. In the event of a gate change, our Employees are responsible for ensuring all Customers who need assistance reach the new gate.
“We apologise for the inconvenience. Southwest is always looking for ways to improve our Customers’ travel experiences, and we’re active in the airline industry in sharing best practices about how to best accommodate Passengers with disabilities.”