A lawsuit has accused Spirit Airlines of abandoning a passenger suffering from dementia, a senior citizen who was "unaccompanied and disoriented", after which he died.
The incident happened at a Texas airport. The lawsuit alleges that the man wandered onto the highway, where he was hit by traffic, according to a report by The Independent. According to the complaint filed by Marcos Humberto Vindel Osorio's relatives, they informed the airline about the 75-year-old's cognitive condition at check-in. They told him he would require assistance upon disembarking in Houston. The airline told them that the necessary help would be provided; however, "Spirit provided none." His family and friends waited for him in the arrivals area at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. When he didn't show up, they checked with the officials. A US Customs and Border Protection agent told the family that Osorio had been processed and cleared for entry at 7:43 pm. They then reached out to the police, and the search for him started. Osorio was later found dead on the Eastex Freeway. The family says it would have taken him at least two hours to walk there.
Spirit Airlines failed to provide promised assistance
"Mr Osorio had been struck and killed by multiple vehicles," the complaint, which was filed on April 22 in Houston federal court, states. It adds, "Spirit's "failure to provide the promised assistance - leaving a 75-year-old man with dementia to navigate alone from an international gate through customs and out of a major international airport at night - was the direct and proximate cause of Mr. Osorio's death." His family says in the complaint that commercial airlines "do not confirm special assistance for a passenger with a known cognitive disability and then provide no assistance whatsoever."
The family's attorney, Russ Brudner, told The Independent that this is "every family's nightmare" and they have "suffered an unimaginable loss." He added that the family trusted the airline, but it was "broken in the most devastating way possible." In the United States, the Air Carrier Access Act required every airline to provide disability assistance at airports. The outlet reached out to the airline on the matter, but did not receive a comment. Spirit Airlines recently declared bankruptcy.
Osario boarded the flight from Palmerola International Airport in Comayagua, Honduras, on June 8, 2024. He lives in Honduras and was visiting his family in the US. He suffered from "mild dementia that was triggered and exacerbated by stress." He left the airport unaccompanied and was hit by "multiple" vehicles.