Passengers applaud as boy, mom and terminally ill father are removed from plane

Photo by: Education Images/UIG via Getty Images

Photo by: Education Images/UIG via Getty Images


A 7-year-old boy and family were removed from an Allegiant Airlines flight Monday.

His mother claims passengers applauded as the family got off the plane.

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Christina Fabian-Roman told KTAR her family was flying home to Phoenix from Bellingham, Washington, on a delayed flight.

She and her family were traveling with her husband, who has terminal cancer, to see family.

Her son started having an allergic reaction to a dog that was on the flight.

She said he has never had an allergic reaction like that to a dog before.

A flight attendant moved the family away from the dog on the plane, but airport medical services suggested it was not safe for the boy to fly.

The family was asked to leave the plane.

"When we stood up and walked to the front of the plane, the (people) in the back of the plane applauded," Fabian-Roman said.

"What crushed us was that our 7 yr old boy looked at us with tear-filled eyes and said, 'I'm sorry that I put you through this. This is all my fault,'" Fabian-Roman said in a Facebook post Monday. "Then he proceeded to say, 'I can't believe that people clapped. They shouldn't do that because they never know who already has sadness in their hearts.'"

The airline told the family they could take the next flight to Phoenix, which was Wednesday.

"It wasn't the flight attendant's fault we got off the plane," Fabian-Roman said. "It was the flight attendant's attitude that perpetuated people's agitated behavior around us. It's just the comments she had made."

Fabian-Roman said in a Facebook post that a flight attendant remarked that there are dogs on every flight.

Allegiant Airline said it "forwarded the family's feedback on to the appropriate teams within the company to ensure any necessary service improvements will be made," and apologized to the family.

Fabian-Roman said she does not want anything from the airline.

"We’re not looking for anything else. It’s not Allegiant’s fault we got deplaned," she said. "We’re not looking for any type of compensation."