A family that was applauded off an airplane because a boy's allergic reaction was delaying its takeoff was finally able to fly home after two days, their airline said Wednesday night.
The family of three was supposed to fly back to Phoenix from Bellingham, Washington, where they were on a bucket-list trip, when 7-year-old Giovanni had an allergic reaction, NBC affiliate KING in Seattle reported. The family had to deplane, and they said that people onboard clapped.
But the family was on the trip to visit relatives, as father George Alvarado has terminal cancer, and they say they were hurt. "People who don't have sadness, they don't understand," Giovanni told KING.
Allegiant Air has offered the family its apologies for their "negative experience" on the Monday flight, and their feedback has been noted so any service improvements that need to be made can be, a representative told NBC on Wednesday.
Giovanni's mother, Christina Fabian, told KING a flight attendant had smirkingly told them there are dogs on every flight, when informed that the boy was getting hives.
"We are truly sorry for the unfortunate circumstances surrounding their previously ticketed itinerary and for the inconvenience they have experienced as a result," a company representative said in an email.
The family was re-booked for a flight out of Bellingham International Airport Thursday, the representative.
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Alvarado told KING that he felt hopeless when other passengers started clapping as they left the plane, but now he wants others to be kind – they don't know what some people are going through.
"You don't know how much time people have or why they are hurting. Just be nice. Be kind," he told the station.
