On Wednesday, while boarding a flight to from Dubai to France, Emirates staff asked 17-year-old Eli, his mother Isabelle Kumar and family to disembark from the plane because he has epilepsy.

The problem arose when Isabelle– who had called the airline earlier to ensure they were aware of her son’s needs – asked for a “seat with a vacant seat next to it in case he had a seizure”, they asked to see the medical certificate.

Confusion with the medical certificate

Isabelle, who is a Euronews journalist, initially couldn’t find the certificate but asked Eli’s doctor to email her immediately, which the doctor did. However, according to the mother, the attendants refused to look at the certificate or even speak to the doctor on the phone.

She alleged that the staff asked her to show the certificate to the ground staff despite having informed the staff about her son’s condition both while checking in and then again at the departure gate.

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Isabelle took to Twitter to share her side of the story

Thanks @emirates for removing our family from your flight. Our son has epilepsy: we had told you, just come 14 hr from Melbourne, got his doctor on the phone & medical clearance while still on board. He has #autism & severe learning difficulties – v traumatic. pic.twitter.com/1JXw9A4EYM

— Isabelle Kumar (@Isabelle_kumar) July 25, 2018

Once kicked off – your staff immediately agreed that he is fine to fly – as he has been with every flight with you @emirates. Now there is no flight home. Kids totally distraught and humiliated. Where is your humanity?

— Isabelle Kumar (@Isabelle_kumar) July 25, 2018

The attendants then apparently proceeded to ask the entire family to exit the plane.

She spoke to The Guardian narrating the entire incident:

“The children were crying, Eli was really distressed, he was biting his arm which is how he copes with stress, holding his head in his hands.

We managed to get him off OK, and there was an emergency medical team waiting. They thought he’d had a medical emergency, but we said he was fine. They couldn’t understand why we had been kicked off. They immediately agreed he was fine to fly, but we were not allowed to re-board. The lack of humanity was really shocking.”

Folllowing hours of confusion, the family was then sent on another flight to Geneva the following day.

Lovin Dubai got in touch with Emirates for an official statement:

“We are very sorry for any distress and inconvenience caused to Ms Kumar and her family. Such situations are usually difficult for operational staff to assess, and they opted to act in the best interest of our passengers’ safety as well as on advice from our medical team. Our customer service team has been in touch with the family, and we have offered them complimentary hotel stay while in transit and rebooked them on another flight departing on 26 July.”

Emirates spokesperson

Amended story