Two sisters from Florida are saying they were removed from an Allegiant Air flight recently after a negative exchange with a flight attendant – a setback that caused them to miss the opportunity to say goodbye to their dying father.
Monday, Trisha Baker and Debbie Hartman say they had boarded a flight from Orlando, Florida to Asheville, North Carolina, to see their dying father. Baker was seated in the middle of the plane, Hartman was towards the back.
While they were waiting for takeoff, Baker said she received a text from their brother saying that their father may not survive the night. So, Hartman went to the back of the plane to talk over the news with her sister.
"I leaned over to my sister -- I had my seat belt on -- and I put an arm on her leg and I kind of softly told her that Dad wasn't expected to live through the night or that this would be his last night," Baker said.
When Hartman began crying “hysterically,” a flight attendant urged the sisters to remain in their seats.
"I said, 'I am in my seat and I have my seat belt on,'" Baker said. "And I said, 'I'm trying to console my sister. We just found out my dad's dying.'"
Baker said the flight attendant replied with, "you need to keep your personal problems off this plane."
Baker insists that she was “curt” in her response, but said that she did not curse or threaten the flight attendant. However, the flight attendant reported to Orlando Sanford International Airport that Hartman “became verbal and made a hand gesture with her middle finger in the air [at the flight attendant].”
Shortly thereafter, the flight attendant called the plane’s captain. The plane then returned to the gate and the sisters were ordered to leave.
Their father died on Tuesday.
"I don't know why it happened at all. There will never be justice served. I'll never get to say goodbye to my Dad, and he and I were very, very, very close. ... But there's no reason for this, no justification," Hartman said.
Allegiant said they are investigating the issue.
Click here for additional details from ABC News.