[ad_1]
A 4-year-old boy from Arkansas with autism was kicked off a Spirit Airlines flight on Monday for not wearing a mask, despite a doctor’s note that the airline had accepted the flight to their destination.
The experience devastated little Carter Kimball, his mother says.
What are the details?
KTHV-TV spoke with Callie Kimball, who told the outlet that her husband and son, Carter, were kicked off their flight home via Dallas after visiting family in Las Vegas.
Callie explained that she and her husband have flown several times with Carter, who is severely autistic and non-verbal, and loves airplanes.
Carter’s doctor provided them with a letter to carry on their trip explaining that Carter is exempt from the requirement to wear masks due to his disability. According to Callie, when Carter wears a mask “he starts to panic”, “holds his breath” and “hurts himself.”
She said the Little Rock family had always flown on Spirit Airlines and had never had a problem until Monday, when an airline employee informed them once on board that “autism is not not a handicap “and” he has to wear a mask or he did. get off the plane. ”
To make matters worse, as Carter and her father were kicked out, the airline wouldn’t allow Carter’s babysitter – who was traveling with them to help Carter – get off the plane with them.
Stranded in Dallas, the father and son were able to catch an American Airlines return flight for $ 1,000 out of pocket, and American accepted Carter’s medical note. But so far the Kimball family still have no money for the Spirit return flight they were deported from, and the airline has not responded to their request for a refund.
“So we’re out of all our flights, thousand dollars and we have a son who is just distraught now that he’s thrown all his planes down,” the mother told KTHV.
Nothing else?
Carter isn’t the first young child with autism to have trouble with Spirit Airlines.
Last September, a Chicago family said the airline sent them a letter banning 3-year-old Cebastian Lewis after he continued to remove his mask on a return flight.
During a layover, the family said, Spirit employees disembarked the entire plane and filed a police report against the family.
According to WFLD-TV, Spirit argued that the family was using profanity and not cooperating.
Regardless, the outlet reported:
Spirit released a statement, saying they had to cover their faces for the entire flight. The only exceptions are children under 2 years old. Travelers unable to wear them for any reason, including medical reasons, will not be able to fly with Spirit.
[ad_2]
Source link