Kerry Deane was due to fly home to the UK from Tunisia with her family when staff, observing that she was heavily pregnant, demanded she consult with two doctors on board the plane.
While Kerry was 35 weeks pregnant at the time, she fell within airline Thomson’s guidelines regarding pregnant women and flying, which state that they can fly at up to 36 weeks. Mum-of-four Kerry also had a letter from her GP stating that she was fit to travel.
Despite all of these factors, Kerry was forced to undergo a humiliating examination in front of her partner, their children and the rest of the passengers, in the area where passenger food is prepared.
After the examination, Kerry was told that she could not travel on the flight, and the family were left stranded in Enfidha Airport while they waited to catch another flight.
Now seeking legal advice on the issue, Kerry says that the entire debacle was disgraceful: “The way we were treated was an absolute disgrace, and we haven’t even had an apology from Thomson for the way we were treated.”
“They didn’t carry out the examination in any sort of sterile way, and I can’t believe we were thrown off the plane as it was obvious I was not in labour. It’s not about compensation, I just want to make sure this doesn’t happen to any other pregnant women in the future,” she added.
Since Kerry’s story broke publicly, a representative for the airline has addressed the situation, saying that the flight had been handled by a third party airline. They refused to comment further, in light of the pending legal action.
This is the latest scandal in this vein to emerge of late, with another mum recently kicked off a plane because her baby was branded ‘too young to fly’.
