Girl Gets Kicked Off Of Continental Airlines

[Guest B747-8]

Did anyone hear about the girl who got kicked off Continental Airlines because of coughing? Continental been kicking a lot of people off. Its more like a privilege to ride with them. What does everybody thing about the situation? I'm pretty disappointed with them. But also it was a safe decision. I have mixed thoughts. First the pilot should of handled the problem with more responsibility. They could arranged another way to get her there, by maybe using smaller aircrafts to get her there, so they could stop easily if they have to. But it is also hard to find a landing place for the B777-224ER. They also could of at least payed for the room, clothing, and food. On the other hand its good that no one could of gotten sick just because of one person in case there was a cold going around. From what it looks like to me I think she had a dry throat, which is mostly not contagious. I am still pretty ticked off at Continental Airlines for not handling the situation with more maturity. I also have a few questions: What was the plane number, and the flight number? Also what was the plane number she took home, and that flight number? Sorry if those questions sounded a little odd. I just thought this was a interesting case. I found a video about the situation. http://us.video.aol.com/snag/?pmmsid=18780...p;autoplay=0%22

[Cessnaflyer 56]

I think it was a perfectly good call on the captain. What if she died on the flight? The family members would be suing because they didn't take enough care of her. I also believe that continental payed for the room for the two and they took a later flight. Your also missing some information on this. The people that were traveling with her were saying that she was coughing so hard that at times she would choke. Definitely not the condition to be traveling in.

[Guest BrianFletcher]

According to the report I just heard on Sirius radio's CNN and Fox News channels, the girl was given money up front for a hotel, clothing, and meals. They also said that she was reimbursed her ticket fare and that the airline made sure that one of her guardians, who I believe was a teacher, also stayed with her and was compensated for the same expenses. That sounds very reasonable to me.

[G7USL 117]

If it had been found that she had Tuberculosis, maybe you would have realsied that the Captain HAD made the right decision, in fact the person should have been charged for the inconvenience for landing at the wrong place!

[Guest PARADISE]

Great. First, no guns,hand grenades or small nuclear devices allowed on board. O.K, I can see their point there. Then, no nail clippers,hair pins or hand lotions. Well, that's getting a little over secure. But, now no sneezing or coughing?,.....come on what's next, have everyone empty their bladders before they board because they could of ingested a liquid explosive? All this paranoia is taking all the fun out of air travel.John M

[Cessnaflyer 56]

I am hoping that is sarcastic.The circumstances are a little different then what was posted.

[Guest B747-8]

She probably didn't know she had the cold till she was on the plane, but I don't know. I wouldn't charge a person who didn't know she had a cold, flue, etc, was of that age (depending on what they did), and upset (again depending what they did). From what I heard she felt fine when she woke up. Also if she was really sick and she knew she had a cold I bet the guardian wouldn't let her take the plane home that day. The pilot did somewhat make the right decision to kick her off. KEWR to PHNL is not an easy distance and a B777-200 is big and there isn't many landing spots, thats where I go with the pilot. Also that know one else got sick if she had a cold. Continental did pay for the room I found out (I thank them for that), BUT NOT the food or clothes.

[Guest PARADISE]

>I am hoping that is sarcastic.>>The circumstances are a little different then what was posted.>Sarcastic? Yes and no. As of this moment it was sarcastic to say we cannot carry on small nuclear devices.......I have yet to see a sign in any airport that I've been to that says you cannot do that, so I'm assuming they're O.K.:-) I don't think I'm being sarcastic in saying that due to all the paranoia as of late ( whether it is left over post 911 hysteria or just people having the wrong information/ideas } that the fun has been taken out of our industry. If that child was indeed gravely ill then yes, she probably should not have boarded. My question is, where does it stop? How about people that are excessively sneezing?, maybe due to allergy, maybe not. After the coughers are not allowed to fly, do we ban these people? Who gets to determine who flies and who doesn't....and more importantly, why can't someone fly?.I've sat near plenty of loud snorers in my life that I wish would have been kept at the gate....and I know I wasn't the only one on board that felt that way.Anyway,that's my little Monday morning anti-establishment rant.....now back to flying. No hard feelings I hope:-beerchug John M

[Cessnaflyer 56]

Well if it was a simple cough I would let them go but the captain made a wise choice based on what everyone was telling him. Here are a few quotes from girl and passengers. "Everyone was looking at me," she said. "I couldn't talk because I lost my voice coughing so much. I was panicking."Collier was coughing "uncontrollably" on the plane"I felt it was really extreme for a coughing fit," she said. "We've all had coughing fits."So if you were the captain and given this advice what would you do?

[Guest BrianFletcher]

This seems like a non-story that is being spun by different sources. The most recent report from theworldlink.com says: "...according to the girl's mother, Stephanie Collier, Continental agreed to pay any additional costs incurred due to her daughter being removed from the aircraft. A Continental spokeswoman confirmed that the passenger and her guardian were compensated for meals, a hotel room, clothing, and additional expenses."I'm sure you can find a hundred sources that confirm this story, and a hundred more that counter it, but I don't even understand why this is considered news. By her own admission the girl said she was coughing "uncontrollably". It just doesn't seem like a risk worth taking to have her possibly infect others on that flight, or to have to make an emergency landing. Even though some stories, like the one about the passengers sitting in the plane for 10 hours, are indeed news worthy, I think that this is just an attempt to make news at the expense of the already under fire airlines.

[Guest B747-8]

Today I found out that Continental did pay for the room BUT NOT the food or clothes. I can't tell why they didn't pay for the clothes or food, but I hope someone can answer that. Also I do believe it was a good idea for the pilot to remove her, BUT NOT just kick her off without her having any say, or saying "get off!" (like I heard in an article.)You can't get anymore upset when you miss your flight home when your 16 without your parents. (But she did have a teacher.) If I was a pilot (which I'll hope to be someday) depending on how sick she was (if she was coughing for a minute, then not as much) , and if my plane was a 737, I might try to do the flight. (Not counting going over the pacific to Honolulu, because I probably wouldn't make it.)If she did get sick during the flight it would be easier to land because its not a B777.

[Guest B747-8]

I didn't get the part where she was coughing hard and almost choked. I remember having the same experience with (what I believe was the flue) but vomiting twice instead. How long after she was kicked off the flight was she still coughing? Another thing what cold, flue, etc did she have ? (If she had one) Also if the family tried to sue Continental they could just say that it was her choice to fly not ours.

[Cessnaflyer 56]

>Also if the family tried to sue Continental they could>just say that it was her choice to fly not ours. Haha, if only it was that easy to fend off a lawsuit. I suggest you take a business law, aviation law, and a flight physiology class and you will see why the captain made that choice.

[Guest BrianFletcher]

Wow, I guess I'm going to have to stop trusting eveyone, including the girl's mother who has now stated several times that they were indeed compensated for all of there expenses, in which she went into detail. I'm surprised that she would have lied like that to the Associated Press, Greta Van Susteran, the World Link.com, and others, but hey, I guess she did.

[Guest LSflyguy]

This has got to be a very difficult decision for any airline captain, and I think Continental's captain made the responsible decision. You seem to ignore the fact that the captain isn't just taking the girl's welfare into account, he also has to consider the welfare of hundreds of other passengers on board. That includes not only the possible spread of a disease, but also the added inconvenience, stress, and expense to all the other passengers. If the girl's condition had worsened during the flight, Continental could also have faced a multimillion-dollar lawsuit. I've been on flights where the pilot needed to make an emergency landing due to a passenger becoming seriously ill. This isn't something to be taken lightly. It's scary for the passengers and it easily costs the airline tens of thousands of dollars in additional expenses. Faced with similar circumstances, if I were Continental's captain and had a passenger with any "uncontrollable" medical condition, I would have removed the passenger. By law, the captain is the one who's in charge of the aircraft. It's not a committee decision in which the passenger gets to vote. Also, if you were a passenger on that flight, would YOU want to be the one who has to sit next to someone who is "coughing uncontrollably"? I couldn't find any news stories with details about the girl's food and clothing expenses. But I found an ABCNews story which suggests you don't really have all the facts. The girl's mother said Continental had gone "above and beyond" to care for her daughter, and she met with the captain who had her daughter removed from the B777. Granted, the mother still thinks the Continental overreacted to the situation, but it looks as if Continental really did a lot to make sure the girl AND her teacher were treated properly. What if the worst had happened, and the girl had died on the flight? Would you think the captain had made the correct decision to let her on board?