Woman: United Wrongfully Kicked Her Off FlightHawaii Woman Considers Lawsuit Against AirlinePOSTED: 9:42 pm HST November 10,
2009 HONOLULU -- A Hawaii Kai woman said she is considering a lawsuit against United Airlines after the flight crew kicked her off a plane in Tampa, Fla., on Monday.The woman said the airline falsely accused her of having the swine flu.The Health Department told KITV 4 what happened in Tampa would probably not happen in Hawaii.The Honolulu Airport has medical personnel onsite prepared to medically assess someone who may not be fit to fly.While the issue is being debated across the country, the woman in the middle of the storm said she is very relieved to be back in Honolulu."I'm so glad to be home," said Mitra Mostoufi.Mostoufi, 50, said it was a nightmare journey for her and her 12-year-old daughter Paige.They attended a family wedding in Tampa over the weekend. But their homecoming was delayed 24 hours when a United Airlines flight crew forced them to get off their flight from Tampa to Honolulu."They come out in the plane, screaming like, 'Get your belongings. Let's go. Let's go. You're a health risk. You're sick.' And I'm going, 'What,'" Mostoufi said.Mostoufi said she had an upset stomach and had simply asked for an airsickness bag."I told them, 'I don't have the flu. I had a flu shot,'" Mostoufi said.State epidemiologist Sarah Park said the Honolulu Airport is prepared to handle such cases."There is an airport medical group on the grounds at the Honolulu Airport here in Honolulu, so that someone can be appropriately medically assessed," Park said.Mostoufi said no one ever even took her temperature and she feels she was unfairly targeted."Kicking them off the flight without medical assessment, obviously that leads to problems," Park said.It also led to headlines. Mostoufi's plight wound up on the front page of The Tampa Tribune and on CNN.She said she was further disturbed when she saw two people waiting for her seats and she was puzzled when United tried to book her on an American Airlines flight for the same day."If I am such a health risk, why am I going with American, and if I'm not, and you believe I'm not, why aren't you letting me go home right now," Mostoufi said.Mitra is a mortgage officer who said she was humiliated in front of hundreds of passengers. Now her family is considering a lawsuit."They cannot do this to people and they cannot get away with it. The way they treated me, it was awful," Mostoufi said.Does Mostoufi believe race was an issue?"Of course it could've been an issue," Mostoufi said.Mostoufi is an American citizen of middle eastern decent.United Airlines did not return KITV's calls, but it has said the airline allows its flight crews to determine if visibly ill passengers should be allowed to fly.
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