Alaska Airlines is backtracking after removing a woman with cancer from one of its flights this week.
Elizabeth Sedway was supposed to fly from Hawaii to San Jose on April 6 with her family, but they were grounded instead.
Sedway, 51, has multiple myeloma, and wore a surgical mask as she boarded the plane. She admitted to a flight attendant that she might need extra time to board because she felt weak, which apparently caused the staff concern.
A flight attendant called a physician, who concluded that Sedway should not be flying. Sedway, an attorney and travel writer, used a cell phone to capture the staff asking her to leave the plane.
"I'm being removed like I'm a criminal or contagious because I have cancer," she said on camera. "No note to fly. My family is being forcibly removed from the airplane because I have cancer."
During the disagreement, Sedway emailed her oncologist, who then gave her permission to fly. This was not enough for Alaska Airlines' staff however.
"What more can I give you?" she asked a flight attendant. "Does anybody wonder how I got to Hawaii?"
The staff were reportedly concerned that the mother would "collapse" as the plane flew over open ocean, and Sedway did not receive clearance to fly in advance.
According to Cancer.net, it can be dangerous for people with cancer to fly because of changes in air pressure and oxygen levels at high altitudes. Swelling can occur in people who have had lymph nodes removed and cancer patients are more likely to develop blood clots from sitting through long flights.
USA Today reported that people with cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other conditions can be refused service at the discretion of the pilot.
Still, Alaska Airlines apologised for the "communication breakdown," and will pay for the family's flights and other expenses.
Sedway hoped that changes would be made
"They need to polish their policies, apply some common sense," she said. "A simple mask, a word, shouldn't be enough to pull a whole family off an airplane."
