A nurse says Spirit Airlines needs to have more sensitivity training of its employees when it comes to emergencies.
Nathalie Albino was traveling from Fort Lauderdale to Juan Santamaría International Airport in Costa Rica on Friday night when she helped assist with an 83-year old woman in distress.
The woman died after 35 minutes of CPR but Spirit left her uncovered in the same seat while fellow passengers had to walk by.
Albino said they requested a blanket to cover the woman’s corpse, but the crew did not provide one.
“We had to take her sweater off of her and physically put it over her head,” Albino said, according to Local10.com.
Albino said they also requested to move the body away from the other passengers, but a flight attendant allegedly told her, ‘No we have to buckle her back into her seat,’” Albino said.
“It was pretty disrespectful,” said Albino’s fiancé, Jonathan Bunda, who was also on the flight. “You know, imagine if it was your mother or grandmother.”
Albino also claimed that when the flight landed, all passengers – including children – were forced to walk past the woman’s body.
But Spirit Airlines spokesman Erik Hofmeyer refuted some of those claims.
“We deplaned first (because) that was what we were required to do by (Costa Rican) law,” he said. “Saying that we forced people (out of the plane first) is a flat-out lie.”
Hofmeyer also noted that Spirit flight attendants are trained to handle medical emergencies and that the flight did not divert elsewhere because at the time of the emergency it was closest to Costa Rica.
