Airline workers ordered Bob Henderson off a holiday flight - for fidgeting in his sleep. The exhausted dad-of-five nodded off as he waited for the First Choice jet to take off from Gatwick. But worried cabin crew thought his twitching meant he was having a fit - and called for help.
Bob, 58, was checked out by firefighters, paramedics and doctors, who all insisted he was healthy. But the pilot refused to let him stay on board, First Choice refused to give him compensation - and his insurers refused to pay out because there was nothing wrong with him.
Bob, of Speen, Berks, was flying to Portugal with family friend Michelle Hawkins, 31, and her children Natalie, 11, and Daniel, seven. He said: "We'd left home at 2am and the weather conditions were poor, so I was exhausted by the time we got to Gatwick and I fell asleep on the plane.
"The next thing I knew, medically-trained firemen were checking me. They said I was OK but the captain called an ambulance.
"The paramedics also said I was fine. But the crew said I needed a 'fit to fly letter' from a doctor, so I had to go to hospital." The plane left without Bob's party and First Choice offered them the next available flight - 48 hours later.
Instead, Bob paid £430 for flights with EasyJet the following day. But he wasn't able to get the money back through his travel insurance becaused medics had given him a clean bill of health. He said: "It's a joke. First Choice will be my last choice in future."
No comments:
Post a Comment