Posted on 05/10/2015 2:40:11 PM PDT by Morgana
FULL TITLE: 'It's fear of autism': Fellow passenger says she SUPPORTS plane decision to kick off little girl and family as United refuse to apologize and mother calls for action
A controversial decision by a United Airlines pilot to make an emergency landing to remove a family because their autistic daughter was being 'disruptive' has received support from at least one passenger onboard.
The airline has so far refused to apologise over the May 5 incident which saw Dr Donna Beegle, her husband, son and their 15-year-old daughter Juliette removed during an emergency stop in Salt Lake City as they flew on a connecting flight from Houston to Portland.
Now passenger Marilyn Hedlund has spoken out to voice her support for the airline which is being threatened with a discrimination lawsuit by Beegle.
Hedlund told KOIN6 that the 16-year-old girl wasn't removed because she has autism but because her behavior threatened the safety of everyone onboard the plane.
'She wasn't put off the plane because she had autism, she was put off the plane because she was maybe proposing some kind of a threat, to (about) 170 other people at 36,000 feet, which doesn't make anyone feel safe,' Hedlund said.
'What if she got crazy and got up and opened an exit door at 36,000 feet?'
She praised the flight attendants for how they had been working quietly with the family for nearly an hour before the pilot made the decision to make an emergency landing.
'There was a lot of howling, and we thought well, what's going on? And it never stopped,' Hedlund said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Yikes! You said this like a day before the crash...it’s like you knew!
More like foot in mouth. Either way look how many died as to survived. Now look at how many usually dies when a airplane goes down. Yea I’ll take my chances with Amtrak. Even as bad as an Amtrak derailment is, I still stand a better chance of surviving.
Plus Amtrak derailments are rare. Mohammed fly every day, and we have had a lot of planes go down for strange reasons. Many of those planes never found, in the ocean.
Dude, have only flown once in my life and that was in one of those small airlines. Was scared to death! Vowed to NEVER fly again.
I go by Amtrak. Read my post #62 about derailments and surviving.
Plus with Amtrak one has more room, better service, nice lounge car, and a better view of everything. So nice to travel and not smashed in like a sardine.
Amtrak kinda sucks for crossing oceans, however.
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