A St. Croix woman has filed a lawsuit against American Airlines and its regional partner Envoy Air, alleging that gate agents left her unattended in a wheelchair at Miami International Airport, forcing her to spend the night in painful conditions that worsened her health.
According to court records, Gloryanna Samuel says she suffers from several medical conditions that require her to use wheelchair assistance when traveling. In April of this year, she booked a flight on American Airlines from St. Croix to Tampa, Florida, with a connecting stop in Miami, and, as she usually does, requested wheelchair assistance for the journey.
Ms. Samuel claims that after her flight landed in Miami, Envoy Air, which is reportedly contracted by American Airlines to provide wheelchair services, initially supplied her with a wheelchair but then “abandoned her in her wheelchair at the gate for her flight to Tampa.”
The alleged neglect caused her to miss her connecting flight, the lawsuit states. While she was rebooked for a flight departing the next morning, “neither American nor Envoy offered Samuel a hotel room even after Samuel made a request for a room,” according to the civil complaint.
Instead, Ms. Samuel says the two companies directed her to a “cold public room” inside the airport, where she was “forced to sleep on a chair, causing her severe physical discomfort and exacerbating her medical conditions.” She alleges that the experience led to swelling in her feet and eyes, pain in her left arm from having to prop her head up throughout the night, and elevated blood pressure — a condition she says is “particularly dangerous given her pre-existing medical conditions.”
The lawsuit accuses American Airlines and Envoy Air of negligence and seeks damages to cover past and future medical expenses, disability, pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life.
As of press time, neither American Airlines nor Envoy Air had filed a response to Ms. Samuel’s complaint, which was submitted to the District Court of the Virgin Islands on Friday.
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