EasyJet defends decision not to allow epileptic to fly
A 30-year-old woman who suffered a seizure just before taking off on an EasyJet flight to Zakynthos has said airlines should reconsider how they treat people with epilepsy.
Helen Stephens, a model, was due to fly from Gatwick to attend a friend’s wedding when she suffered a seizure that ‘lasted seconds’.
Paramedics said she was OK to fly, but airline staff told her to retrieve her hand luggage and get off.
EasyJet rebooked her on a flight today and provided overnight accommodation, but Miss Stephens said she should have been treated better.
She told the Independent: "It wasn’t like I’d been drunk and rowdy. I had a bit of a seizure, felt a bit silly, I just needed to sit there for a minute and go back to my seat.
"After having a seizure and feeling a bit silly anyway, I had to walk up the aisle and pack my books back into my rucksack, and my passport and everything."
EasyJet said: "The health and wellbeing of passengers inflight is of paramount importance and easyJet will only allow passengers to travel if the gate staff, captain and crew are satisfied that they are fit to travel.
"The captain was concerned about a passenger following a seizure during boarding and so we transferred her onto a flight today in line with medical guidance.
"The health and wellbeing of the passenger was our primary concern. We provided her with overnight accommodation and have rebooked her to travel today."
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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