Mothers sues airline for $55million after refusing to sit in vomit-covered seat
Rosetta Swinney was thrown off the Frontier Airlines plane and arrested after making what she said were reasonable requests to have the area cleaned
A mother kicked off a plane with her teenage daughter after being offered a vomit covered seat has sued for $55million.
Rosetta Swinney filed a lawsuit demanding huge damages from Frontier Airlines on Thursday over the April 2019 row, which ended with Swinney in jail and her daughter in the care of social services.
Swinney wants damages for the distress she endured, and is also claiming Frontier put out a false statement about the incident.
The drama began after Swinney and her child refused to clean someone else’s sick from a seatback, floor and arm rest on a flight from Las Vegas to Raleigh, North Carolina.
Swinney’s daughter, who has not been named, got vomit on her hands while putting her carry-on bag in an overhead compartment.
She and her mother then noticed sick all over the area where they were expected to sit for the lengthy flight.
Swinney pressed the call button and told the flight attendant, anonymyzed as Jane Doe in the law suit about the mess, Fox8 reported.
Jane Doe is said to have handed Swinney rubber gloves and some disinfectant wipes so that she could clean the mess up herself.
Swinney then reportedly asked for napkins, but was refused, with Jane Doe telling her ‘It’s better than nothing’, according to the lawsuit.
The mother refused to clean the vomit, and was told she was being thrown off the plane when she went to the front of the cabin to complain.
Police were called, and told Swinney that while they ‘sympathized’ with her, she had to get off, according to the suit.
A stand-off ensued, with all passengers ordered to get off the jet after a flight attendant highlighted the behavior of ‘one rude passenger.’
After finally getting off the plane, Swinney was handcuffed and arrested.
Her lawsuit says she was never offered another seat, and that she was not rude or confrontational.
Swinney was charged with trespassing, but last month told she would face no criminal action.
Explaining her anger at how the situation was handled, she told ABC11: ‘What really hurt me is for my child to see me getting handcuffed and taken away from her.
‘Twelve hours I was in jail. Twelve hours.’
A Frontier statement claims Swinney was asked to disembark the aircraft after becoming ‘disruptive.’