Peggy Uhle was sitting patiently in the aeroplane, awaiting take-off from Chicago Midway International Airport. She turned off her phone, in accordance with take-off rules and sat back comfortably in her seat. She was just starting to relax, when something unexpected happened…
obsev.com
The plane, rather than heading towards the runway for take-off, changed direction without warning and made its way back to the boarding gate. The atmosphere inside the aircraft was one of confusion, as you can imagine. Then, the flight attendant approached Peggy and told her that she needed to depart from the plane immediately.
Not As Expected
There is always someone on the plane who feels extremely uncomfortable about flying. We have all witnessed that nervous flyer who grabs onto the armrests of their seat so intensely, that their knuckles go white during take-off.
top5.com
For the less nervous among us, flying is a pleasant experience. With a good film selection, comfortable seats and plenty of food, it can even be enjoyable. Peggy was looking forward to her flight that day. However, it wouldn’t turn out quite as she had imagined.
Going Through The Motions
Peggy was someone who flew regularly, so she knew the drill. She had seen countless flight attendants go through the motions of demonstrating the safety procedures and practically knew them by heart. She didn’t need reminding that all phones must be turned off before take-off. She obediently turned hers off, checked that her seatbelt was properly secured and ensured that her seat was upright.
businessinsider.com
She completed a final check to make sure that none of her belongings were obstructing the aisle and that her carry-on bag was correctly positioned under the seat in front. Confident that everything was as it should be, she sat back in her chair and relaxed, waiting for take-off.
Saving Time
Uhle was due to be travelling to Cleveland, Ohio, from Chicago, Illinois. She could have driven, but decided to save some time by taking a flight instead. Chicago and Cleveland are approximately 350 miles apart.
metro.co.uk
In the car, this would have taken her over five hours, but flying meant that she would be there within about an hour and a half. It was definitely worth taking the flight. However, things did not quite go to plan…
Confusion
Everything was as it should be and Peggy was confident that she would arrive in good time, until the plane changed course. All of the passengers anxiously looked around, searching for an explanation for this unexpected turn of events.
abc13.com
Uhle recalls the moment when the flight attendant came towards her. The attendant walked intentionally over to Uhle and told her that she needed to get off the plane. “I figured I was on the wrong plane,” Uhle explained to BoardingArea.com during a 2015 interview.
The Airport
Midway International Airport is a major commercial airport on the south side of Chicago, Illinois. It was opened back in 1927 and was the primary airport in the region, until the opening of the O’Hare International Airport, 28 years later.
time.com
It is typically referred to as Midway Airport, Chicago Midway, or simply Midway. Today, it is the second largest airport in Chicago metropolitan area and the state of Illinois. For Uhle, it will always be remembered for the bizarre events that took place that day.
Singled Out
Little did Uhle know, that on that day in May 2015, she would not end up reaching her destination at all. When that flight attendant began to approach her, she had no idea what was happening. Why had she been singled out?
top5.com
She racked her brain for any possible reason why she might not be allowed to fly, but couldn’t think of anything. The only explanation she could think of was that perhaps she had somehow boarded the wrong plane. In fact, there was a much bigger problem at play…
Not Just Peggy
However, this was not an isolated incident. There have been numerous occasions where people have been removed from flights out of Chicago. A similar thing happened to David Dao Duy Anh, back in April 2017…
es.m.wikipedia.org
David Dao Duy Anh is a Vietnamese-American doctor who was removed, by force, from a United Airlines flight. This occurred because four members of the airline staff urgently needed to get to Louisville, but no one was willing to give up their seat.
Won’t Go Quietly
The staff explained the situation to the passengers on the flight, requesting that someone give up their seat, but, since no one was willing to do so, the airline was forced to randomly choose four customers to remove from the plane.
travelontv.com
Three of the chosen passengers obliged without complaint. Dao, however, was not so quick to accept this. He did not want to disembark from the plane. As far as he saw it, he had paid good money for this seat and needed to reach his destination as soon as possible. The airline CEO, Oscar Munoz, wrote in an email to The New York, that Dao was “disruptive” and “belligerent.” Other witnesses on the plane disagreed with this statement.
Different Stories
Dao, a pulmonologist, urgently needed to reach Louisville by the next morning. He was going there for work purposes and could not be late. If he couldn’t take this flight, then there was no way that he was going to make it in time.
magellantimes.com
He firmly objected to leaving the plane, but there are different stories concerning how he went about this. Contrary to what the CEO said, other passengers on the plane said that Dao had been “polite and matter-of-fact” when he spoke to staff. Video footage from the flight also shows that he wasn’t being rude.
Aggressive Treatment
Witnesses on that plane in Chicago O’Hare International Airport claimed that the airline staff were less than friendly in the way that they approached Dao. When Dao refused, the staff requested that the security officers escort Dao from the aircraft. Then, they became aggressive.
verywellhealth.com
Luckily, other passengers on the plane took the initiative to record the events. Videos show staff knocking Dao’s face against an armrest as he was pulled aggressively out of his seat. He was then grabbed by the arms and taken from the plane. Dao later agreed on a settlement with the airline in compensation for the way he had been treated.
Refusing To Cooperate
The aforementioned are incidents in which the airline has been unreasonable, but there are, of course, other cases where passengers have had to be removed from flights for behaving in a manner which is completely unacceptable.
nzherald.co.nz
For example, one woman was kicked off the plane after she refused to fold up her table for lift-off. Witnesses described this female passenger as getting cranky at this request and then becoming verbally abusive towards the attendant.
Verbal Abuse
This incident not only caused disruption for other passengers on the plane, but it also meant that the plane ended up being further delayed, since the pilot was forced to return to the departure gate so that the woman could leave the plane.
fortune.com
Video footage showed that, as the woman was escorted from the plane, she began a racially abusive tirade, targeted at the airline staff. However, the other passengers seemed to quite enjoy the drama of it all, even going as far as to cheer when the woman was ejected from the flight. A statement issued by Southwest Airlines following the event read: “The customer became unruly and verbally abusive toward our flight attendants, and the decision was made to return to the gate to deplane the customer, where she was met by local law enforcement officers.”
Not Amused
In May 2019, another incident occurred. A flight was due to depart from Sacramento, California, heading for Austin, Texas, via Los Angeles. However, there were some refuelling and maintenance issues which led to the plane being delayed by several hours.
mirror.co.uk
This delay ended up causing some serious problems. While they were waiting, the attendants handed out free bottles of water to customers. One particular passenger quipped that the staff should be serving vodka instead of water, but the flight attendant was not at all amused.
Watch What You Say
A witness of the incident, Peter Uzelac, told KTXL: “He said something [like], ‘They should be passing out vodka because we’ve been waiting so long.’ [The flight attendant] came by and was like, ‘I don’t think that and I didn’t like your joke.'” When Uzelac’s wife took it upon herself to intervene, the situation escalated. Uzelac recalls: “Then my wife tried to butt in there and say, ‘Look, we’ve been on this plane for hours.’ And [the attendant] says, ‘Well, so have I, so get used to it.’ Then all of a sudden I see her on the telephone up in front.”
eduly.in
Shortly afterwards, the plane returned to the gate and the man was removed by Sacramento County sheriff officers. Southwest Airlines made no apology for the incident, but they did issue a statement, which was reported by MSN: “We regret any less-than-positive experience a customer has onboard our aircraft. We welcome over 100 million customers each year and we aim to maintain the comfort of all while delivering Southwest hospitality.”
A Concerning Message
Just a few weeks before Peggy Uhle’s experience with Southwest Airlines, yet another passenger claimed that they had a particularly difficult experience. She had been waiting for the flight to take-off, when she received a disturbing message from her husband. The airline reportedly then prevented her from calling him.
angliya.com
Passenger, Karen Momsen-Evers from Milwaukee, Wisconson, received a message from her husband saying that he intended to take his own life. She managed to send him a reply before the plane departed, but when she asked the staff whether she could make an emergency phone call, they said that this was not possible.
Helpless
After Momsen-Evers explained her situation, desperately asking to make this call before the plane departed, the crew still instructed her to set her phone to flight mode. According to the Daily Mail, once the plane had taken off, she asked another crew member for an opportunity to make an urgent call to her husband. They reportedly responded by saying that there was nothing they could do for her.
top5.com
Momsen-Evers was forced to continue her journey home, crippled by worry about what her husband might do if she didn’t speak to him. She arrived home to the news that her husband had, in fact, committed suicide. Southwest Airlines insisted that it’s routine for air crew to inform pilots of emergency situations in which the passengers on the aircraft are at risk. However, this didn’t happen on this occasion.
An Urgent Message
So, what actually happened with Peggy Uhle in 2015 that prompted pilots to return to the departure gate? Had she caused a scene? Had she offended someone? No, she hadn’t done either of these things. It transpired that there was an emergency at Peggy’s home.
travelontv.com
The flight attendant was coming over to tell her that her husband had been desperately trying to contact her. An urgent situation had unfolded at home and, because Peggy’s phone was on flight mode, her husband had to contact the airline in order to get a message to her.
Shocking News
The situation was urgent and it was necessary to alert the pilot and return to the departure gate. The pilot did so and when it got there, the staff waiting at the gate told Uhle that she urgently needed to call home.
travelandleisure.com
When Uhle got through to her husband, he told her some terrible news. Their son had suffered a head trauma and was now in a coma in a hospital in Denver. This would come as a blow to any parent, but Uhle was thousands of miles away in Chicago, headed for Columbus. She urgently needed to get home to her boy.
Under Control
Uhle was frantic. Her son was back home in a life-threatening condition and she was miles away. She didn’t know how she would be able to pay for a flight back to Denver. However, Southwestern Airlines had it all under control.
travelontv.com
“The gate attendant already knew the situation and had booked me on a direct flight to Denver that was leaving in the next two hours,” Uhle told BoardingArea.com. Southwestern Airlines’ efforts didn’t end there. They had thought of everything to save this distraught mother the trouble.
Incredible Care
Uhle continued: “[Southwest Airlines] offered a private waiting area, rerouted my luggage, allowed me to board first, and [even] packed a lunch for when I got off the plane in Denver.” The airline had gone over and above what was required of them to look after this exhausted mother.
prevention.com
The help didn’t end there. Uhle explained to the Daily Mail: “My luggage was delivered to where I was staying, and I even received a call from Southwest asking how my son was doing.” How much did the extra service end up costing Uhle? Absolutely nothing!
Committed Airline
Southwest Airline’s are clearly completely committed to going the extra mile for their customers. “We don’t take our commitments lightly. We are dedicated to doing the right thing, we take great strides to ensure [passenger’s] safety, and fostering trusting relationships between our employees, our customer[s], our supplies, and our planet.”
travelontv.com
A spokesperson for the airline made a statement to MailOnline Travel in May 2015, concerning the Uhle incident: “This example is a direct reflection of the Southwest Airlines culture. Employees are empowered at Southwest to go above and beyond the call of duty…”