A family traveling to Houston had a bad experience from SkyWest Airlines.
The mother, her two sons, and daughter boarded the plane without any problem. She asked another passenger to trade seats so 21-year-old Tayo, one of the brothers, could sit next to a family member.
Tayo has autism and is nonverbal, so sitting with someone he knows would be the best option.
The other brother, Ayo Isola, wrote on Facebook: “He suffers from OCD, sensory overload, and many other symptoms that can make air travel particularly difficult for him.
“For his safety and the safety of those around him, it is important that he sit with a family member on flights.”
The passenger who traded seats with Tayo was happy to do so and no one had an issue with their arrangement.
“We boarded the plane and easily found a nice woman sitting one row away who was willing to switch seats. Problem solved,” Isola wrote.
Everything was going well until a flight attendant caused a problem.
“The flight attendant became upset and demanded my brother move back to his original seat,” Isola wrote. “We explained to her that he has special needs and that this small accommodation would be necessary, however she continued to raise hell about passengers switching seats.”
Twenty minutes later the flight attendant brought a gate supervisor over but the supervisor had no problem with the arrangement and told her that ‘this happens.’
“At this point the other passengers are defending our right to be treated fairly and telling the flight attendant she is being discriminatory,” Isola continued. “We are 45 minutes late to depart now. The attendant goes straight to the pilot to complain that we are causing a ‘safety hazard.’”
After a while, the entire plane was asked to de-board. The crew and the pilot ended up refusing to fly, forcing more than 70 passengers to get off the aircraft.
“They refused to fly the plane because they were told to make a minor accommodation for a passenger with special needs,” Isola added.
“Im posting this story to highlight the ignorance, bigotry, and blatant discrimination that unfortunately exists in people today,” Isola wrote.
“It is not right to treat people with special needs as if they are unworthy of your time or effort. Especially when a simple accommodation or a tiny bit of compassion can be the difference between them being successful or unsuccessful in life.”
Skywest said in a statement: “We are investigating reports regarding SkyWest flight 3596, operating as Delta Connection from Detroit to Houston, Texas, which experienced a delay boarding as a result of an issue regarding customer seat assignments.
“We are committed to providing exceptional onboard service to all of our customers and are working with our partner Delta to reach out to the customers.”
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