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Flight Passengers Stage Protest After Blind Man Gets Ejected
By
Lauren Evans
Published Nov 14, 2013
Modified Nov 14, 2013
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By
Lauren Evans
Published Nov 14, 2013
Modified Nov 14, 2013
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Passengers aboard a U.S. Airways Express flight from Philadelphia to Long Island's MacArthur Airport staged a protest on Wednesday after flight personnel allegedly hassled a blind man over his guide dog.
The plane had apparently been waiting on the runway for nearly two hours, causing Albert Rizzi's increasingly restless guide dog, Doxy, to come creeping out from his designated place under Rizzi's seat. A flight attendant reportedly told Rizzi that the dog needed to stay put, or the plane would not take off. The dog refused to cooperate, and both Rizzi and his canine companion were booted from the flight. But Rizzi's fellow passengers decided that if he couldn't fly, they wouldn't, either.
“Security comes on and they go to take this gentleman off the plane with his dog,” passenger Frank Ohlhorst told CBS New York. “So when we, the passengers, realize what was going on, we were like ‘why is this happening? He’s not a problem."
According to the airline, Rizzi became verbally abusive when told his dog needed to stay seated, NBC Philadelphia reports. Passengers, tired of the prolonged wait to begin their 40-minute flight, were growing agitated—some on behalf of Rizzi, some from sheer impatience. Feeling threatened, the crew opted to cancel the flight, and all 35 passengers wound up taking the bus to Long Island instead.
Rizzi wrote his account of the story on his Facebook page:
I cannot believe how humbled I am to know that 35 people got off the plane with me in solidarity. They all got off the plane because it was the right thing to do. They all got off the plane because the flight attendant misrepresented the entire situation. They all got off the plane, because Doxy and I were discriminated against, and mistreated for reasons that are unknown to me.
Thanks again to each and every person who chose to sit on a bus for nearly 4 hours, then take a cab or drive others home after getting back to Long Island, thanks for speaking out to management, thanks for refusing to take that flight home unless I an Doxy were back on the plane, thanks for telling the flight attendant that she was wrong, thanks for asking for her dismissal, and most of all thanks for not taking the easy way out, and turning an intentional blind eye to what happened and flying home without me. The flight was cancelled by all the people who purchased the ticket to fly this evening, and not because of anything due to mechanical failure. It was cancelled due to human kindness.
Tagged
airline
blindness
guide dog
long island
Lauren Evans
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