An 87-year-old woman wet herself during a 13-hour flight after cabin crew refused to let her use the toilet.
Kocharik Tsamouzian requested a trip to the toilet after boarding a British Airways flight from LA to London, which had been parked up on the runway for 90 minutes due to a delay. However, she was prevented from using the facilities by a flight attendant who blocked the aisle and told her she must remain in her seat for safety reasons.
Ms Tsamouzian, who was flying over to visit her daughter, Aida Behroozi, who lives in the UK, eventually ended up wetting herself and, because she didn't have a change of clothes with her in the cabin, had to sit in them for the 13-hour flight.
Speaking to the Mail Online, Aida said of her mum: "She was distressed and upset, but she didn't want to tell me what happened in front of my husband. She was too embarrassed.
"She sat in her wet clothes all the way home and would only finally tell me what happened when we got home."
Credit: PA
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She told the paper that her mum had only been offered £40 in compensation, which was because the in-flight entertainment wasn't working. She also says that despite the incident happening all the way back in December, her mum is still yet to receive a proper apology.
A spokesperson from British Airways said: "We are very sorry that our customer had such a distressing experience and have been in contact to apologise.
"Our highly trained cabin crew always work to make our customers as comfortable as possible, but Civil Aviation Authority safety rules stipulate everyone must remain seated with their seat belts on after the aircraft has started moving.
"The safety and security of our customers is always our top priority."
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The Civil Aviation Authority recommends that passengers wear a seat belt throughout the flight and says, 'You must do so whenever the seat belt sign is on (during taxi, take-off, landing and during turbulence)'.
This is most likely due to the fact that most plane crashes happen during this time - and toilets don't have seat belts - but do have lot of sharp corners for you to smack your head into.
And, because Ms Tsamouzian requested to use the toilet during this time, she was refused.
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I've actually been in a similar situation to this. We were coming in to land and it had been a horribly bumpy flight. I knew I was going to spew, so I undid my belt and made a dash for the toilets. They were locked and I got yelled at by an angry female flight attendant who told me I had put myself in danger. Also, there was a sick bag in front of me all along.
So, even if the lady in this story had managed to push her way past the cabin crew staff, she'd have most likely found that the doors were locked anyway. What do you guys think? Are the rules the rules? Or should they allow for a bit of flexibility?
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Plane