Is it a “gross abuse” for an airline to empty the passengers and leave a sleeping woman behind for several hours?
That’s the contention of a lawsuit brought against the Trans States on behalf of a suburban Detroit resident, Ginger McGuire. She flew on an accounting training session that began in Detroit and ended in Philadelphia. In her travels, she was shuttled to Dulles Airport in Washington, DC, before heading to Philadelphia. There, she was left stranded on the airplane after landing.
McGuire said she was exhausted from traveling and fell asleep as soon as she took her seat on the Philadelphia-bound Trans States airplane — Trans States works in conjunction with United Airlines. She was not taking medication and did not have any alcohol to drink. She was simply tired, she said.
"I just woke up and looked at my phone. It was 3 a.m.," McGuire said. "I said, ‘Oh, my God, there’s no one on the plane.’ "
McGuire said she walked up and down the aisle for 15 minutes. She said she panicked and didn’t think of calling for help.
"Then the door to the airplane opened and two Philadelphia police officers were standing there with a TSA officer," McGuire said. "They wouldn’t let me off the plane until I proved who I was. It was like, ‘Show us your ID, show us your ID.’"
Officials let her go after about 10 minutes. McGuire then checked into a local hotel.
Her four-count lawsuit filed in Wayne Circuit Court alleges negligence, false imprisonment, emotional distress and breech of contract against the two airlines leaving her locked on an airplane for four hours after it landed.
By David Wilkening
