Teen with autism kicked off flight for being disruptive
Published 10:08 am Monday, May 11, 2015
- Juliette Beegle
An Oregon mom has filed a complaint against United Airlines after it removed her and family from a flight because it said her 15-year-old daughter, who has autism, had become “disruptive.”
According to KOIN.com, Donna Beegle, her husband and their son and daughter were headed back to Portland on Tuesday after spending a few days at Disney World in Orlando. Beegle’s daughter, Juliette, became upset after missing a meal earlier in the day.
“She started getting a little upset and I started thinking, ‘You know what? She didn’t eat her dinner,’” Donna Beegle told KOIN. “I know her, when she gets over hungry or over thirsty, she really struggles because she can’t tell us and she gets really frustrated.”
According to Beegle, after she was was able to get her daughter a first-class meal, Juliette was fine and had calmed down while watching a movie.
But that’s when Beegle said she was surprised when the plane made an emergency landing in Salt Lake City.
“Juliette ate and was watching Pocahontas when we heard the flight attendant say, ‘We will be making an unexpected landing in Salt Lake due to a passenger in the back having issues,'” Beegle said on her Facebook page. “We were in the front of the plane and wondering what was going on.”
Cell phone video taken by another passenger shows police officers boarding the plane and escorting the entire family off the flight.
“Then two police officers approached our row. They said they needed us to exit the plane. I said, ‘Why?’ The officer asked if Juliette was scratching someone. I again said, ‘no.’ I told them asked for hot food to prevent a melt down and said we wanted to prevent her getting to the point of being upset or scratching, which she sometimes does in frustration. I told the officer the flight attendant gave her hot food and she has been fine the whole trip. The officer said they we were going to still have us exit the plane.”
According to Beegle, Juliette has been flying since she was six months old and they have never experienced anything like this before.
However, United Airlines is standing behind its crew’s actions.
“After working to accommodate Dr. Beegle and her daughter during the flight, the crew made the best decision for the safety and comfort of all of our customers and elected to divert to Salt Lake City after the situation became disruptive,” United said in a statement. “We re-booked the customers on a different carrier and the flight continued to Portland.”
Beegle said she plans to file suit against the airline.
“It’s not about the money, it’s about the training,” Beegle said.