Exclusive - 94-Year-Old Filipino Grandmother Forced to Enure Uncomfortable 16-Hour Flight After Airline Kicked Her Out of Business Class

A 94-year-old woman was reportedly kicked out of business class on her trip from Los Angeles California to Melbourne, Australia. 

The story was first reported by the popular trending news site, Definitely Filipino. 

According to the source, the old woman was identified as Paz Orquiza, a Filipina who is a resident of Melbourne. 

Paz recently went on a vacation with her family in Los Angeles,California; a trip that her children and grandchildren planned so carefully for. Based on reports and interviews, the family saved enough money to buy Paz business class tickets just so she could travel comfortably. 

Paz is reportedly suffering from severe Arthritis and a degenerative bone structure in the neck area. This is why her family made it a point to put her in business class for the trip from Melbourne to Los Angeles and vice versa. 

According to reports and the accounts of Paz's relatives, the trip to Los Angeles went well for Paz because, being a person suffering from disability, the airline allowed her daughter to assist her during the 16 hour flight despite being in economy class. 

But the trip back to Melbourne was not as smooth as the first one. 

When Paz's daughter tried to assist her mother on the flight home, the flight attendant told her she had to either upgrade to business class and get another plane to join Paz or ask Paz to move to economy. 

The result was that Paz was forced to move to economy and endure the uncomfortable 16 hour flight back home. 

Later, Paz's family members took to social media to talk about their experience with the airline. 

According to a Facebook post from Paz's daughter, Marianne Santos Aguilar, this is what happened: 

"My aunt [refering to Paz's daughter, Rose] traveling with her in Economy asked the Business Class flight attendant, Shauna, if she can assist my grandma with simple tasks such as opening her food or reclining her seat, similar to what my aunt helped with on her outbound flight.

Without any sympathy or compassion, Shauna said my grandma’s only options were to 1) move to Economy with my aunt or 2) take another flight and purchase another Business Class ticket for my aunt.

The Air Carrier Access Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in air travel and requires air carriers to accommodate the needs of passengers with disabilities, neither of which was complied with here."

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Marianne also added the following:

"Feeling like she had no choice, my grandma moved to Economy and spent the next 16 hours in distress and pain. My aunt tried to comfort my grandmother, who was in tears, and was horrified to see how much pain she had to endure during this flight."

"Upon arrival to Australia, my grandma’s legs had swollen, she suffered from a stiff neck and her whole body ached. She is still in great distress and pain from this ordeal. She was recently prescribed stronger pain medication and Valium to help with sleep."

"Our family is heartbroken that this painful plane ride back to Melbourne will be the last memory of our trip for my grandma, and this has ruined an otherwise incredible family reunion. I want a guarantee that what happened to my grandma will never happen to another disabled or elderly person again, and that we can stand together to stop discrimination towards the disabled and elderly."

According to Definitely Filipino, Paz's family brought up their complaints to the airline. But Marianne said the company's response was an insult to them. They reportedly told them that they “did not find evidence that any disability regulations were broken”. The also aded that "they were not required to provide extensive personal assistance”.

Marianne also said the following to the source:

“They gave us $500 travel certificate and they are looking into refunding the difference between business class and economy (refund would go through the travel agent).” 

According to reports, the family has yet to get the refund. 

The incident happened back in February.

Source: TNP, DefinitelyFilipino

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