Southwest Airlines leaves woman with dementia on-board plane

Melody Allega: "I get to baggage claim. Her bags are there, but there is no mother" Photo / Screengab

An 82-year-old woman boarded a plane for a four hour flight and arrived at her destination 14 hours later, after she was left on board.

Dolores Runnels suffers from dementia and was meant to fly from Dallas to Houston then onto Greenville in the US.

Instead she arrived on the other side of the country, flying from Dallas to Houston to Greenville to Baltimore to Chicago, finally returning to Greenville.

Her daughter, Melody Allega, was waiting for her mother at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport.

She told local news station WYFF4 that Runnel's bag turned up, but not her mother. Allega said she tried to keep calm but none of the Southwest Airline staff could tell her what had happened.

"I just kept thinking about how scared she would be to show up somewhere and not realise where she was or how she got there or how to get home."

Prior to her flight, Runnel's family had contacted the airline to alert them to her condition. Despite a response acknowledging Runnel's dementia and outlining a plan for helping the woman to her destination, she wasn't escorted from the flight.

Southwest Airlines said it was reviewing the incident. Photo / AP

Allega said the error highlights bigger concerns:

"Who counted that plane? That's not just an old person that needs help or a person with dementia that needs help, that's national security biting the dust."

She said when her mother finally arrived in Greenville she was hungry and confused.

Allega has asked for an apology from the airline: "For them even just to say we really messed this up and we take responsibility for that and here is our plan to not have this happen again to anybody else."

Southwest Airline spokesman Dan Landson confirmed the incident to WYFF4.

"Upon [Runnel's] arrival at BWI and after learning of the situation with this customer, our airport employees did what they do best - they jumped into action, brought her food, and diligently worked on flight arrangements to get her back to Greenville-Spartanburg that day. At Southwest, we consider each customer an extended part of our family."

He said an internal review will be carried out.

- nzherald.co.nz