Debbie Hartman and Trisha Baker were traveling from Florida to North Carolina on January 2, 2017, to visit their father, who was in hospice care.
Debbie and Trisha knew their father didn't have much time left, but while they were taxiing on the tarmac, Trisha got a text saying her father only had hours left to live. She got out of her seat to see if Debbie, who was sitting elsewhere on the plane, had gotten the same message. Once she got to Debbie's seat and told her the news, a flight attendant told Trisha she needed to return to her seat.
Trisha asked if she could sit by her sister, explaining that she wanted to console Debbie. She told the flight attendant, "We just got word that my dad's dying."
As Trisha argued with the flight attendant, Debbie started having a panic attack. Trisha told the flight attendant that she should be more compassionate, and the situation continued to escalate from there.
Thumbnail Photo: Wikimedia
Debbie later explained that Trisha told the flight attendant, "You're being very rude. My father is dying, and I'm comforting her."
Instead of being understanding, though, the flight attendant told the sisters to keep their personal problems off the plane.
Moments later, the flight attendant called the captain, who immediately turned the plane around and returned to the terminal. Then airport security boarded the plane and escorted Debbie and Trisha off.
Other passengers were just as shocked as the sisters. One woman took to YouTube to share her thoughts. "That was the most inhumane, deplorable thing I've ever seen any human being do," she said.
Hours later, their father passed away, and Debbie and Trisha were not able to say their final goodbyes to him. Not only were they devastated that they missed their last chance to see their father alive, they were also furious at the airline — they would have made it if they hadn't been kicked off the flight.
"This is not humane. One hundred thousand percent I blame them. They were the gate between keeping me from my father to say goodbye," Debbie told News 6.
As upset as Debbie and Trisha are, it's been heartening to see the response they've gotten — people everywhere are stunned at what happened on the airplane and are sending their condolences to the sisters.
The airline issued the following statement about the incident: "We rely on our crew members to provide and oversee a safe environment for every passenger, on every flight. We expect that authority to be exercised both judiciously and consistently, with empathy and with good judgment. We take this customer feedback seriously and are in the process of conducting an investigation into what occurred."
Other passengers who were on the plane with the sisters have also reached out to them, empathizing with what they saw on the flight.
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