DETROIT -- A mother traveling from Florida back home to Michigan last April says her 15-year-old daughter was removed from their flight and left to wait in the Tampa airport for another flight home, according to WXYZ Detroit. That mother is now suing Spirit Airlines for $75,000 in damages.
Stacy Giordano and her son were sitting in the back of the plane for a flight from Tampa to Detroit, while her daughter was sitting toward the front of the plane. Prior to takeoff, the 15-year-old girl was allegedly removed from the flight by airline staff because the flight was overbooked and they needed to make room for another passenger.
The girl told staff her mom was on the plane but they still removed her from the flight, according to the family attorney Jerry Thurswell. The girl was then put on another flight to Detroit hours later. Giordano didn’t realize until after the plane had taken off that her daughter was not on board.
“When the child says my mother’s in the back of the plane why are you taking me off and they just take the child off and say ‘Sit here you’ll be on the next flight out...' you don’t just separate a child from their mother," Thurswell said.
The girl was unable to reach her mother on the plane because of the airline’s policy on all cellphones being in airplane mode and unable to accept incoming calls or messages.
In response to the issue, Thurswell says his client was initially offered a refunded ticket and extra air miles by Spirit. The company did not comment on the lawsuit directly, instead issuing a short statement valuing the “safety and security” of passengers.