Here I was thinking recently that Continental may be my new favorite airline.  I hadn't flown them before until this past week, but I was impressed with the low cost of my last-minute ticket, the ease of check-in, and the fact that they may be one of the only remaining airlines to offer food in coach at no additional cost (not that it was good food, you understand, but at least it was something.  And there were M & M's).  So imagine my surprise when I read that Rachel Collier, a teenage girl returning to Hawaii from a school trip to New York City, was kicked off her plane and made to remain behind while her classmates went home without her, all because she was coughing. 

I don't know, I'm thinking that this was a little, you know, extreme.  Coughing??  I was married over ten years to an airline pilot and I'm pretty familiar with the circumstances under which they may and may not have someone removed from a plane.  Sure, it's always the captain's decision, but at the same time they have a mountain of paperwork to do about it and explanations to be made, so for the most part, unless the pilot is a real control freak (which is a very real possibility, believe me), they don't make those decisions lightly.  In other words, they'd better be pretty darned sure that the person in question is likely to cause a real disturbance or be somehow unsafe or prevent the flight attendants from doing their jobs.  In this case, a doctor on the flight checked Rachel out and said she could make the trip safely, and flight attendants gave her water and all.  But still the captain said no, and Rachel was left stranded with a teacher who stayed behind with her, with no luggage, no place to stay, no nothing.

I've had coughing fits that lasted a few minutes.  I'm guessing lots of people have.  Maybe there's more to the story than what's in the article, but I'm still thinking that removing Rachel from the flight was an overreaction and unnecessary (did they think she had TB, maybe?  Avian flu?  Hardly).  I'll bet her parents were freaking out.  Continental has agreed to reimburse her for the extra expenses incurred by having to stay behind but I'm thinking it's not enough to make up for the humilation and consternation experienced during her unplanned extra stay in the Big Apple.