Woman’s autistic adult son gets aggressive during boarding from Brussels to D.C. Then the pilot kicks him off the plane and she refuses to go with him

A Colorado woman says that a flight from Brussels to Washington, D.C. was delayed after an autistic passenger was booted from it.

Cara (@theweekdayweekender) says she witnessed a mother, her son, and another passenger get booted off a flight because of a disturbance. Cara says the woman's autistic, non-speaking son, who appeared to have high-support needs, reportedly left the plane prior to takeoff to use the restroom.

Airline staff allegedly said the woman's son was aggressive onboard while going back to his seat, and a pilot asked that he be removed from the aircraft prior to takeoff.

The man's mother, however, didn't want to leave the plane. Cara says she remained onboard until various law enforcement officers arrived to remove her, her son, and another passenger who got caught in the altercation.

As of this writing, Cara's post has more than 99,000 views.

What happened onboard this flight?

Cara explains that she saw the incident while traveling from Brussels to D.C.

“ What happened was this woman boarded the plane with her autistic adult [non-speaking] son. And once you board the plane, you're supposed to stay on the plane,” she says. “ Well, they get off … the plane during the boarding process because he wants to use the restroom in the airport instead of the restroom on the plane.”

Cara says that somewhere along the way, the woman's son was aggressive with airline staff.

“The pilot was like, ‘Well, I don't want him on here anymore.' And so the lady was told that her son cannot be on the flight,” she says. “She's freaking out because she's his primary caretaker, and he needs a caretaker.”

Cara says the man's mother argued with flight attendants “in circles.”

“ OK. Well, if he does get off the flight, where is he gonna stay?” the woman allegedly asked. “Who's gonna stay with him? How is he gonna get back to the airport tomorrow?”

Cara says flight attendants tried to explain that the airline didn't offer that sort of service. Then she says something surprising happened.

‘She wants to be in DC … with or without her son'

Cara says the woman insisted that she stay on the flight, even if her son was removed. It's unclear, however, if she was genuinely trying to stay onboard without him.

 ”She just keeps on fighting the flight attendants. They are, you know, obviously getting frustrated. Everyone's getting frustrated. Eventually, the pilots are like, ‘OK. We don't want her on the flight either.' So now the flight attendants are like, ‘OK, ma'am, you also have to get off,'” Cara says.

Cara figured the woman would want to get off the flight with her son. But the woman insisted that she stay.

“She still wants to be on the flight. So she just continues fighting. Eventually, the air marshal appears. She doesn't budge for the air marshal. Eventually, a policewoman comes on board. And … Oh, yeah, and then there was airport security,” Cara says.

‘This is gonna be very traumatizing for him'

The argument continued to escalate, but Cara says the woman wouldn't budge from her seat.

Various law enforcement officers gave the woman multiple warnings.​

“ This entire time, flight attendants, air marshal, airport security, police, like everyone is telling this lady, ‘If you don't get off this plane on your own, we're gonna have to forcibly remove you, and we don't wanna traumatize your son, but this is gonna be very traumatizing for him if you do have to get forcibly removed,'” Cara recalls.

Eventually, law enforcement moved to pry the son off his mother and take him off the plane first. The content creator says the man was clearly terrified.

Cara tells her audience that the woman remained in her seat and sat like “dead weight” to avoid leaving the plane. She adds that a man, who was sitting next to the woman and her son, tried to help. He was removed from the plane, too.

Cara says the woman received two boarding passes printed for the next day and a hotel voucher while she was being deplaned.

“So … they … definitely tried to get her off peacefully, and she just, it wasn't going to happen,” Cara says.

In a comment on an earlier post, Cara says the entire situation delayed the flight by more than two hours.

‘She was going to LEAVE HIM?'

A majority of the commenters seemed surprised by the woman's behavior. A few pointed out that her alleged willingness to leave her son in Brussels was concerning.

“I can't believe she was just going to leave her [non-speaking] son alone; that's more crazy to me,” one viewer said.

Another commenter said, “She would have gotten a lot of eye rolls and dirty looks from me.”

A third viewer asked, “He needs constant help and guidance, and she was going to LEAVE HIM?? No wonder he was acting out … She sounds like a nightmare. Poor guy.”

Cara responded, “Yeahh, there was a lot of questioning [about] who will be with him if she's on the plane and he's not, and then kind of demanding that they find someone to be with him if he's going to get off the plane.”

Commenters share alternative perspectives

Another commenter pointed out an alternative perspective.

“This is very, very sad for everyone involved,” they said. “That mom likely has years of sleep deprivation, exhaustion, fear of the unknown, and who knows what … Sounds like this could have been de-escalated by everyone involved.”

When traveling in an airport, people expect crowded spaces, strict security protocols, bright lights, and loud noises—all of those things can be inundating for a person on the autism spectrum, to the point of causing extreme stress and even a meltdown.

Autistic individuals don't age out of the neurodevelopmental condition. The only solution is often appropriate accommodation or preparation for travel.

Similarly, being a caregiver to someone on the autism spectrum can lead to significant burnout, regardless of love or intentionality. No one knows what happened prior to the incident, or if there's other context for the situation. Either way, both the woman and her son were likely extremely stressed on the plane.

Is this situation legal?

Legally, the airline was in the clear to remove all three passengers from the plane.

While the U.S. Air Carrier Access Act explicitly prohibits discrimination against a passenger based on disability, it clarifies that “Airlines may exclude anyone from a flight if carrying the person would be inimical to the safety of the flight.”

The European Union's rules, which apply to a flight leaving from Brussels, guarantee non-discrimination in access to transport. But that doesn't remove any airline's ability to remove a passenger from a flight who may pose a significant safety risk or disturbance.

In short, flights leaving the United States or a country in the European Union cannot refuse to fly a passenger because of a disability. However, if a disabled passenger is perceived as a viable safety risk on a flight, they still might be removed from the flight, just like any passenger.

In Europe, passengers are entitled to compensation and rebooking when their travel is significantly altered, although it's unclear how and when this applies if a passenger is removed from an aircraft.

@theweekdayweekender

Subplot News reached out to Cara via email for more information.

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