A family has claimed they were kicked off an Emirates flight home because they were travelling with their son who has autism, epilepsy and severe learning difficulties.
The family attained medical clearance ahead of their flight from New Zealand, but shortly after boarding their final leg to France from Dubai last Wednesday, they were ordered to disembark.
Eli, the teenage son of journalist Isabelle Kumar, was understandably distraught at being removed from the aircraft, as were his two younger twin siblings.
A family has claimed they were kicked off an Emirates flight home because they were travelling with their son (pictured) who has autism, epilepsy and severe learning difficulties
The family (pictured) attained medical clearance ahead of their flight from New Zealand, but shortly after boarding their final leg to France from Dubai last Wednesday, they were ordered to disembark
The mother blasted the airline’s handling of the situation via Twitter, saying it was only once the family made it off the plane that staff agreed Eli was OK to fly.
‘We told Emirates every step of the way that Eli had epilepsy (and autism) but when we asked for a seat with a vacant seat next to it in case he had a seizure they suddenly wanted to see the medical certificate,’ she told Euronews.
By this stage however it was too late, and the family was forced to wait nine hours at the airport to find out if they would be staying in a hotel or put on an alternative flight.
The boy’s father, Adam Brown, brought his young family to live in New Zealand for a year so they could connect with the culture from his side of the gene pool.
Eli (top left) was understandably distraught and traumatised at being removed from the aircraft, as were his two younger twin siblings (seated)
The mother (pictured with Eli) blasted the airline’s handling of the situation via Twitter, saying it was only once the family made it off the plane that staff agreed Eli was OK to fly
But despite having flown around the world and different parts of the country throughout the year with no trouble, Emirates still would not allow the teen to fly.
‘They kicked them off with such gusto, even threatened to get police to remove them,’ Mr Brown’s brother told NZ Herald.
Ms Kumar supplied running commentary of the airport fiasco to Twitter, writing, ‘Thanks Emirates for removing our family from your flight. Our son has epilepsy: we had told you, just come 14 hr from Melbourne, got his doctor on the phone and medical clearance while still on board. He has #autism & severe learning difficulties – very traumatic.’
Despite having flown around the world and different parts of the country throughout the year with no trouble, Emirates still would not allow the teen (pictured with father) to fly
The airline promptly said it would look into the query, however several hours later the family was still without answers.
‘Hi Isabelle, we’re sorry to hear this. Please DM us your booking reference and email address. We’ll look into this,’ Emirates wrote to Isabelle.
Finally, more than a week later, the family boarded their final flight home on Thursday.
‘Wondering if Emirates will deign to apologise for how they treated us. As if travelling with a kid kid with disabilities wasn’t difficult enough,’ Ms Kumar said.
Finally, more than a week later, the family boarded their final flight home on Thursday
The airline has since apologised for the ‘distress and inconvenience’ caused to the family.
‘Such situations are usually difficult for operational staff to assess, and they opted to act in the best interest of our passengers’ safety as well as on advice from our medical team.
‘Our customer service team has been in touch with the family, and we have offered them complimentary hotel stay while in transit and rebooked them on another flight departing on 26 July.’
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Emirates for comment.
The airline has since apologised for the ‘distress and inconvenience’ caused to the family