A stroke victim started the WestJet flight after falling asleep



[ad_1]

A Burnaby, BC A man who recently suffered a stroke accuses WestJet of humiliating him after being fired from a flight to Cuba.

After flying back and forth from Vancouver to Toronto with his wife and son, Stephen Bennett took a prescription sleeping pill when he boarded their last flight to their destination in the Caribbean.

"I fell asleep, then I get up, my wife gives me a nudge, I open my eyes and, apparently, there were two nurses on vacation on board," he said. CTV News.

A flight attendant wanted the nurses to check Bennett after his wife was asked to wake him up for takeoff and he did not wake up right away.

"Even the nurses said that he was fine," said Bennett's wife Josefa Sapelino.

But that was not enough for the staff of the airline, which ordered the paramedic to control the plane at the airport.

"The paramedics said several times that there was no problem with him and they still did not want to catch me in the plane," he said.

The family could only watch their flight take off without them.

"It's so embarrbading, I can not explain my emotions, especially to my husband," Sapelino said. "He is disabled, he can not walk alone, he needs a wheelchair."

The family paid for an Air Canada flight from her pocket, but she made her way to the destination late.

"We have not really enjoyed our vacation," said Sapelino.

"We hardly took pictures because we always had in mind all we had lost," added Bennett.

WestJet is sticking to its decision to leave Bennett behind, declaring to CTV in a statement: "When our teams find that a guest is showing signs of inability to fly, we will, as a precaution and in accordance with Transport Canada regulations, remove the guest from the flight. "

But a pbadenger rights activist said the company's staff did not react properly to the situation.

"It's not a question of what they thought.The question is: what was the situation and what was the evidence?" It was clear in this case that the pbadenger was perfectly fine, in perfect health. " said Gabor Lukacs, founder of Air Pbadenger Rights. .

Bennett says he intends to sue WestJet as a result of the incident.

"Where on my plane ticket does he say you can not fall asleep?" he said.

With files from Shannon Paterson of CTV Vancouver

[ad_2]
Source link