Part of raising a child is sometimes having to stand by while they do something difficult in order to grow.
That was not the case recently where mom Susan Grove found herself forced to stand by while her special needs daughter crawled off of an American Airlines flight because there was no wheelchair.
Grove, who filmed the event at the time, and who updated later, said an aisle chair was not available even after an hour of waiting to de-plane, so her daughter was forced to crawl off of the flight after four days of grueling travel.
"The aisle chair never came, so our special needs daughter had to crawl off the plane," Grove captioned the video.
An aisle chair is a slimmer wheelchair specifically made to move people with limited mobility on and off airplanes.
Grove claimed she and her husband, Joe, tried to carry Ava off the aircraft, but she weighs 150 pounds and "carrying her down the small aisles is very difficult."
After the video went viral, Grove received a small message from American Airlines, offering $75 each to her, her daughter, and husband.
She said:
“I said that was unacceptable and that I would love to speak with a manager."
@susangrove This cannot happen to special needs people/families. Also; we tried to carry her but she is 150 pounds and carrying her down the small aisles is very difficult. #americanairlines #notokay #viral #spreadtheword
This was not American Airlines' first such incident. In fact, this sort of thing used to happen so often that they were slapped with a federal lawsuit to force them to cover incidents similar to this one.
The airline's PR team had a response, which was milquetoast at best.
“[American Airlines will] continue the airline’s significant actions to improve the travel experience for customers traveling with wheelchairs and mobility devices.”
Folks were outraged with the airline.
@hipmomellie/TikTok
@devastasian/TikTok
@appleuser35937624/TikTok
@boredintexas/TikTok
@colinclancy4/TikTok
@katelynj19xx/TikTok
There was some pushback in the comments.
@tatianacuellar23/TikTok
@camel.smooth.flavor/TikTok
#dwincolorado/TikTok
The mom responded to people questioning her actions.
@susangrove/TikTok
This story is still developing.
