This is quite a long thread but I want you to get all the information as I am really confused and want to give my friend the best advice.
A friend of mine who was returning from holiday, she was travelling with her brother, his wife, their two young children and my elderly mother in law who is age 70+. They were seated separately on the plane, my friend was seated upstairs and everyone else was seated downstairs together. The niece was crying for my friend and she was becoming agitated as she is very attached to her and she is always with her, however as she was seated upstairs she couldn't sit with her. My friend asked the stewardess it was it possible for her to sit near her family and they said once everyone is boarded, if there's a way they can swap her with another passenger they will. She accepted this and was waiting patiently for the flight to board and take off. Another passenger on the plane complained to the steward and said that my friends niece is ill and should be checked over by a doctor before being allowed to fly (she was crying quite loudly and my friends sis in law was trying desperately to calm her).
The stewardess then goes over to the sister in law and asks if the child is ill. The sister-in-law explained that she's not ill and she is crying for her auntie and who is seated upstairs.
Another stewardess then goes upstairs and said that My friend need to go downstairs (she didn't say why and my friend thought it was because they found a seat for her near her family).
In the meantime My friend was not aware of this but the stewardess that was in charge was asking her family to get off the flight and get the child checked by a doctor within the airport. The sister-in-law and brother were saying that the child is not ill and that she is crying because she wants to be seated with her auntie. However they were refusing to listen and said that they must all get off the flight and get the child checked by the doctor within the airport. They were absolutely refusing to listen. They were trying to explain to them that they are travelling with an elderly person and to young children.
As they kept on trying to explain the situation to the stewardess and explain that the child is not ill and she is only upset because she wants to be seated with her auntie, they started getting increasingly rude and saying get out of this plane now. Eventually they had no option but to leave the flight. They went to the medical room and the doctor checked the child and said that there is absolutely no reason why the child cannot fly. They then went back to the check-in desk And they said that as they have missed their flight and that they need to pay a penalty of £200 each. Again they tried to explain the situation to the check in staff and said that they were removed from the flight due to no fault of their own and it was only because a another passenger complained that the small child was ill when she wasn't she was only crying because she wanted to be sat next to her auntie. However once again they were not being reasonable and would not listen to our side. They eventually had to pay £100 per person as a penalty for missing the flight.
When they arrived back at Heathrow, a few pieces of luggage arrived however the reminder of the luggage arrived in dribs and drabs over the next few days delivered to the home address.
My friend has been completely and utterly broken by this whole experience. It has caused her to become ill and she is unable to work because the of the stress this whole situation caused. What would you do in this situation? I was thinking of tagging the airline (emirates) on a Facebook page, however thinking a bit deeper was thinking maybe write to them and see what their response is.
She saying it's not just about the financial loss that they incurred, it's about the stress and ordeal they had to go through with two young children and elderly mother-in-law. All because another person just said that the child was ill. This has completely ruined her holiday and she has just become a recluse and feels like a complete failure for not having managed the situation better at the time. I'm sorry this is such a long post but I just want to get all the details in.
WWYD.