DALLAS – A Detroit woman who was removed from a Spirit Airlines flight in Texas for health reasons said she couldn't believe she was kicked off the plane. But the kindness strangers showed helped her get through the nightmare.
Lena Jones was in Dallas and wanted to return to her home and two children in Midtown. Instead, she said, Spirit stranded her in Dallas.
"I want to go home, I want to go home," Jones said.
Jones said she was trying to go home, but the flight crew kicked her off the flight and left her stranded at the Dallas airport in a wheelchair without her medication.
"The literally kicked me off and left me in the terminal," Jones said.
The problem started at boarding, when Spirit demanded $100 from Jones for her carry-on, an item she said she wasn't charged for on her way to Dallas.
She paid for the bag, but she said the exchange with the Spirit agent stressed her out.
"The young lady was so rude and disrespectful," Jones said. "I mean passengers were like, 'Why are you talking to her like that?'"
Once she was on the plane, Jones had trouble catching her breath, but she calmed down with the help of the passenger sitting next to her, Marina Tarashevska.
Tarashevska said she was shocked when the crew told Jones she had to get off the flight.
"They can't just throw you out," Tarashevska said. "This is discriminating against a disabled person."
Tarashevska didn't know Jones, but when she saw somebody who needed help, she called her husband in Dallas and asked him to pick Jones up.
"She's being stressed and she's pretty much alone, and nobody on the plane said anything at all to help her," Tarashevska said.
"I am not letting this go," Jones said. "I am not. Because that was just outright mistreatment. They just threw me off the plane."
Spirit Airlines said in their opinion, Jones was having breathing problems on the plane. They said her oxygen tank was low on battery power.
"Out of concern for her safety, they told her we'd put her on the next flight so she could charge her batteries," Spirit said in a statement.
Jones said she doesn't use her oxygen tank during flights and that she was fine.
Local 4 asked what they did for Jones after removing her from the plane, since the next flight was 24 hours later. Spirit hasn't responded yet.
Jones said she would have been stranded if not for Tarashevska's help. She is asking for a refund from Spirit and wants to thank Tarashevska for her help.