Disabled Veteran Forced To Sit In Urine-Soaked Clothing; Airline Apologizes
American Airlines Monday said it apologizes for the “discomfort and overall experience” of a disabled Central Texas veteran who says she was forced to sit for hours in her urine-soaked clothing after flight attendants delayed removing her from the plane.
Reporter: Jesse Moloney
Disabled Veteran Forced To Sit In Urine-Soaked Clothing
KILLEEN (October 31, 2011)—American Airlines issued a brief statement Monday apologizing to wheelchair-bound Army veteran Dawn Wilcox, who says she was forced to sit for hours in her urine-soaked clothing after flight attendants delayed removing her from the plane after a flight from New York to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
"I told them I had to go to the bathroom really bad and I couldn't hold it and I couldn't walk,” Wilcox said.
"It was so easy I was right there in front,” she said.
Instead, she said, a flight attendant indicated she should wait while other passengers left the plane.
By the time she was wheeled off the plane, Wilcox said, “It was too late.”
“I had already used the bathroom all over myself… and then I had to sit in it,” she said.
Wilcox, who joined the Army in 2001 and whose injury is service-related, said no one offered to help her after she was removed from the plane.
“They wanted to give me a food voucher and a hundred dollars in case I wanted to travel again,” she said.
American said Monday it’s looking into the incident, but said a flight attendant “offered an inboard wheelchair to Ms. Wilcox to use, which she declined in favor of her own wheelchair,” which, the airline said, was in the plane’s hold.
“We've have reached out to her with social media,” the airline said.
Wilcox was serving as a DENTAC dental technician at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio when she was injured in a fall in February 2006.
She underwent surgery in July of 2009 and went on temporary retirement, she said.
She receives periodic physical exams at Fort Hood, she said.
American Airlines Monday said it apologizes for the “discomfort and overall experience” of a disabled Central Texas veteran who says she was forced to sit for hours in her urine-soaked clothing after flight attendants delayed removing her from the plane.
Reporter: Jesse Moloney
Disabled Veteran Forced To Sit In Urine-Soaked Clothing
KILLEEN (October 31, 2011)—American Airlines issued a brief statement Monday apologizing to wheelchair-bound Army veteran Dawn Wilcox, who says she was forced to sit for hours in her urine-soaked clothing after flight attendants delayed removing her from the plane after a flight from New York to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
"I told them I had to go to the bathroom really bad and I couldn't hold it and I couldn't walk,” Wilcox said.
"It was so easy I was right there in front,” she said.
Instead, she said, a flight attendant indicated she should wait while other passengers left the plane.
By the time she was wheeled off the plane, Wilcox said, “It was too late.”
“I had already used the bathroom all over myself… and then I had to sit in it,” she said.
Wilcox, who joined the Army in 2001 and whose injury is service-related, said no one offered to help her after she was removed from the plane.
“They wanted to give me a food voucher and a hundred dollars in case I wanted to travel again,” she said.
American said Monday it’s looking into the incident, but said a flight attendant “offered an inboard wheelchair to Ms. Wilcox to use, which she declined in favor of her own wheelchair,” which, the airline said, was in the plane’s hold.
“We've have reached out to her with social media,” the airline said.
Wilcox was serving as a DENTAC dental technician at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio when she was injured in a fall in February 2006.
She underwent surgery in July of 2009 and went on temporary retirement, she said.
She receives periodic physical exams at Fort Hood, she said.
A Boeing 767 operated by LOT Polish Airlines crash landed at Warsaw's Chopin Airport Tuesday after its landing gear failed to deploy, reports the Associated Press.
None of the 230 passengers on board the flight from Newark International Airport to Warsaw were injured, according to CNN.
The technical problem with the aircraft's landing gear was detected by pilots ahead of time. According to the New York Post, the plane circled over the airport for more than an hour before the pilots dumped fuel to prepare for a belly landing. Airport personnel also spread a fire-retardant substance on the runway before the plane touched down.
Chopin Airport will reopen on Wednesday.
