The airline crew reportedly refused to welcome an autistic traveler. Now they have been grounded.

One man said that the crew members of a SkyWest Airlines plane had refused to allow his autistic brother to sit near a member of his family Friday and had left the plane, forcing the 75 passengers to get off and take the plane three hours later.

The crew, including the pilots, was grounded while the airline investigated the incident.

Ayomide Isola, 23, was on Detroit's 3596 SkyWest flight to Houston with her mother, sister, and 21-year-old brother Tayo, who is nonverbal and unable to speak. SkyWest is a connecting operator for Delta and other major airlines.

Isola, a graduate student from the University of Houston, said in a now viral Facebook message that he and his family arrived at the door to learn that they were all sitting next to one. l & # 39; other. They were among the last people to board the flight because a computer crash in the United States caused delays of several hours at airports on Friday, he said.

Once mounted in the plane, a woman quickly volunteered to change seats with Tayo so that he could stand by his sister for more than two hours of flight.

"My brother has to sit down with one of our family members with whom he is comfortable," Isola told NBC News on Monday.

A flight attendant was indignant and approached Tayo to tell him that he was to return to his seat, said Isola. But his brother could not oblige because he did not respond to verbal cues.

Isola said that he and his family explained to the flight attendant that Tayo had special needs and "that this small accommodation would be necessary". But she would not give in, he said, but rather brought in a supervisor from the door who sided with the family.

"The supervisor said," It happens all the time, "Isola said." She was confused as to why the flight attendant had made such a big deal about it. "

The other passengers on the flight defended the family and told the flight attendant that it was discriminatory, Isola said.

After being delayed for almost an hour, the flight attendant then consulted the pilot and argued for the family and the passenger changing seats with Tayo to be removed from the flight. She told the pilot that they presented a "danger to safety," Isola said.

After a discussion with the pilot and the air hostess, Isola said that the pilot had asked all the passengers of the plane to get out of the plane.

The security of the airport meanwhile told the pilot that there was no security problem and that the flight should resume, according to Isola.

The pilot and his crew refused and left the terminal, said Isola. He and the other 74 passengers had to leave the plane and wait three hours for a new crew to take a seat in the plane.

"When the new team arrived, everything went well," Isola said.

Isola said that he shared his experience to highlight "the ignorant, sectarian and blatant discrimination that unfortunately exists among people today."

"It is not right to treat people with special needs as if they deserve neither your time nor your efforts," he said. "They are people first, defined by all their abilities and not condemned by their disabilities."

In a statement released Monday, Delta said it was reviewing the details of the incident to "better understand what happened."

"Delta apologizes to customers of Flight 3596, operated by SkyWest, a Delta Connection partner, for any inconvenience following an on-board event," a spokeswoman told NBC News.

SkyWest acknowledged that the flight had been delayed boarding "due to a problem regarding the allocation of customer seats" and said that it was investigating the aircraft. incident. According to a spokesperson, the crew was initially unaware that the traveler was disabled.

"We are committed to providing exceptional onboard service to all our customers and we work with our partner Delta to reach customers," said the spokesperson.

Isola said that he did not believe that the crew should be allowed to fly longer. If they are, the airline should require that they take awareness training, he said.

"There is a certain level of sensitivity, compassion, you have to travel with disabled travelers," Isola said. "And if you can not do that, then you should not be in this business."