American Airlines offloads cancer patient from New York-bound flight; DGCA seeks report

A female cancer patient flying to the United States identified as Meenakshi Sengupta was allegedly deboarded from the American Airlines AA-293 plane bound for New York city at Delhi airport on January 30. The passenger was asked to deboard after the flight attendants refused to keep her handbag in the overhead cabin inside the plane leading to an argument. The flight's crew refrained from providing assistance to the patient with her handbag weighing more than five pounds (approx. 2 kg), forcing her to lodge a formal complaint with the Delhi Police and Civil Air,  ANI reported. 

Sengupta had requested wheelchair assistance to her seat but it remains unclear if she was met with the demand. The woman, who is battling cancer, noted in her statement that she was visibly "wearing a brace" and that the airline staff would have obviously known that she had some sort of discomfort. 

"I cannot carry any weight in my hands at all and I'm weak from the surgery and don't need to strain myself by walking a lot," her complaint to the Delhi Police and the Civil Air read.

American Airlines staff tells passenger: 'Just de-board the flight'

Sengupta alleged that she "repeatedly" requested help with her heavy handbag but that the help was "rudely" denied by the flight crew. She was allegedly told to keep the baggage "on her own" by an unnamed flight attendant who callously walked away without assisting her. The terminally ill passenger described the crew as "extremely arrogant with her words." When Sengupta complained to the other members of the American Airlines staff, she was met with a "largely indifferent" attitude, the passenger told the agencies. The other attendants decided not to interfere in the matter, she alleged. The latter was told to instead "deboard."

 "They said that if I'm so uncomfortable I should just de-board the flight. They were collective in their decision to deboard me," Sengupta recalled. 

"Once inside the flight, I had a conversation with the air hostess and I explained my health condition to them. But none of them mentioned about putting my handbag away. After the flight was about to take off, cabin lights were dimmed. At that time an air hostess came to put my handbag in the overhead compartment. I requested her to help me put it but she refused to do so and told me it's not her job to do it," said the embattled passenger. The American Airlines' staff's misconduct sparked outrage on social media as people urged the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) to step in and take appropriate action. 

"Disgusting behavior from @AmericanAir staff towards a cancer patient Meenakshi Sengupta who was de-boarded from the flight for not putting her handbag up because cancer has made her arms weak and the crew won`t help. Shameful," a tweet read. "American Airlines had offloaded a cancer patient travelling a few days after surgery at Delhi, on a flimsy excuse. She is Indian, a person of colour. Would they have done so with an American/white person? Should Indians boycott the airline, or let them get away?" another asked. "Authorities must investigate and publish facts, disappointed that have we become so self-centered none of the fellow passengers came forward to help? Airline staff, we’re so insensitive?" meanwhile one other demanded. 

India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) took cognisance of the matter and has asked American Airlines to submit an official report at the earliest.

In its response, the American Airlines Customer Relations team offered to refund unused amount of Sengupta's air ticket. "On Jan. 30, prior to the departure of American Airlines flight 293 from Delhi (DEL) to New York (JFK), a disruptive customer was removed from the aircraft for failure to follow crew member instructions. Our Customer Relations team has reached out to the customer to refund the unused portion of their ticket," American Airlines' statement read.