Two passengers were ejected from the plane en route Abu Dhabi to India for treatment.
Wangari Ndumia, 25, was whisked out of an Etihad flight EY 642 together with her sister after differences emerged on her fitness to fly
While her sister, Ann Ndumia insisted that she was in a stable condition to board the plane that was making a stop in Abu Dhabi before connecting to Delhi, India, the officials of the airline claimed she was not fit, Standard media reports.
This is despite the two having boarded the plane, already seated and was just waiting for the flight attendants to allocate her sister a favorable seat with enough leg room.
However, as soon as all the passengers had boarded, a call was made and what followed was the security officers directing them to leave the plane
Ann said this was the second time they were being denied a chance to travel. The first time was on Tuesday where Air Arabia also did not allow them to check in.
“Kindly note your ticket was within 24 hours we cannot cancel, only airport taxes can be reversed and
After this mail, Ann said she was forced to go back to the same agent to try a secure another flight, which she said, she was instructed to add Sh50,000 more. She only had Sh25,000 and so reached an agreement that she will pay the rest once she is back from India
But as soon as the plane was already boarded, Ann and her ailing sister, whose right leg is being held together with screws due to massive loss of bones, were instructed to leave the flight
An exchange ensued between the Etihad officials and the family who wanted answers on why they could not be allowed to travel.
“We called Medilink, which is the global agent on medical issues for all airlines based in Singapore and they said she was not fit to travel,” said the Etihad official in charge, who also claimed that Wangari was screaming in pain when she was being assisted to board.
Wangari was involved in an accident in 2017 and was hospitalised the whole year in Nairobi and Mombasa.