72-Year-Old Woman Kicked Off Delta Flight in Tears Because She Looked ‘Contagious’

A 72-year-old woman left a plane in tears after the crew asked her to disembark when someone reported her as looking ill and possibly contagious before takeoff.

Suzanne Hays was flying from Akron, Ohio, to Orlando with a connection in Detroit on August 5 when a fellow passenger on what was supposed to be the second leg of her trip complained to Delta's crew about her, WTLV-TV reported.

"Then she came back and said they've moved us because I might be contagious," Hays told the news station about the situation. "Contagious with what?"

Suzanne Hays said she left a Delta plane set to depart from Detroit to Orlando earlier this month after she was asked to disembark when someone thought she was contagious. She was rebooked on other flight but says she's never been treated that way. (Image source: WTLV-TV)

Afterward, Hays said that she was asked to disembark and told if she didn't do so willingly, airport police could get involved.

"I started crying and crying," she told WTLV. "[They were] acting like I had leprosy. It was awful. I have never been treated like that in my life."

A Delta representative told TheBlaze in an emailed statement that it is investigating this matter.

"Our agents and crew take very serious the charge of ensuring customer and employee safety and security. We regret the disruption that incurs from removing any customer, and our goal is to work to re-accommodate them as quickly as possible," the statement read.

While Hays doesn't have any contagious diseases, she does have a neurological disorder, which might account for her pale complexion, according to WTLV.

Watch the news station's report:

Hays ended up getting off the aircraft without further confrontation and was given a $20 food voucher, the news station reported. Within an hour and half, she was put on another flight to Orlando.

Sherri Toth, Hays daughter, told WTLV she was "speechless" when she heard how another passenger saying "this woman is contagious she needs to be kicked off the plane," knocked her mother to the next flight.

(H/T: Daily Mail)