As of: February 16, 2024, 5:45 p.m
By: Franziska Kaindl
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An upset stomach recently proved fatal for a passenger on the Canadian airline Westjet: she had to get off the plane before departure.
It's bad enough when your stomach rebels - but being thrown off the ship was recently too much for passenger Joanna Chiu.
On
Westjet passenger angry about being thrown out: “Great customer service”
Chiu described the exact details in several tweets: “Just got kicked off the plane in Mexico because I had an upset stomach and used the toilet too often before departure.
No prospect of a hotel or a rebooked flight.
I was on medication and on the mend.
Great customer service,” she writes.
The airline's spokeswoman, Madison Kruger, justified the crew's actions in a statement to the online portal
Now Toronto
by saying that the health of the other passengers was also at stake: "In cases where a guest is classified as unfit to travel due to illness “Our staff will have to make difficult decisions in the name of safety.” The well-being and safety of guests would be a top priority and health concerns would be taken very seriously.
A Westjet passenger struggled with stomach problems and used the toilet several times before departure.
Then the airline pulled the ripcord (symbolic image).
© Frank Hörmann/Sven Simon/Imago
Back at the airport, however, Chiu didn't fare much better: Because she had left her wallet with friends on the plane in a hurry, she asked an airline employee to arrange a taxi to the hotel.
But he didn't want to pay for it.
Despite several requests, she was not immediately informed of the new booking number.
Help was only available after she publicly complained about it on X, she says, outraged on the social network.
The next day she finally received her booking number, so she could go home on another Westjet plane at no extra charge.
She advises other passengers: "If you go to the bathroom before the flight and the flight attendant asks you if you are sick, say you just have a small blister."
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A lot of encouragement for the airline
But Chiu's story doesn't just attract pity.
In the comments, some users also criticized her for her behavior: “If you're sick, don't get on the plane!
If your symptoms worsen for any reason, there's only so much the flight crew can do before they have to land." Another user agrees: "That was 100 percent the right decision.
This is certainly unfortunate, but the airline must think about everyone's health and safety.
If that passenger couldn’t stay in his seat, that’s clearly a problem.”