Pregnant Edmonton mom not allowed to board flight; airline says she did not have ‘fit-to-fly’ medical document

An Edmonton woman says Sunwing Airlines refused to let her board a flight home earlier this year because she was pregnant and did not have the proper documentation.

But Kaylee Gallagher, who was returning to Edmonton from Cancun, says she did have a medical document showing she could fly.

The incident took place in October.

“I was being separated from my two-year-old and I was pregnant,” she recalled.

“We were essentially stranded and completely abandoned. I felt like my rights were violated and I was discriminated upon.”

Gallagher, who was in her second trimester, says she had a medical document from a Mexican doctor that showed she was OK to fly. The document was allegedly dated the day before her flight.

But in a statement to CityNews, Sunwing says she did not have that document: “Sunwing policy states that passengers exhibiting medical concerns are required to show an official doctor’s note approving the passenger fit to fly, an as the customer in question did not obtain such document, she was denied boarding and this was unable to travel on her originally scheduled flight.”

Gallagher claims she and her father were left stranded in downtown Cancun after being turned away with no help from the company, while her husband and two-year-old son took the flight home.

“The pilot promised us, when he said we had to be unboarded, that our accommodations would be taken care of,” Gallagher told CityNews.

“Transportation to the hospital to get a fit-to-fly certificate – or try to figure that out – would be taken care of, to the hotel, whatever hotel Sunwing approved and then back to the airport the next day for the flight.”

Gallagher says she booked with another airline and flew back home.

“Unfortunately, at the time the passenger returned with medical approval, Sunwing no longer had seats available and thus the customer booked a return flight with another airline before our in-destination team could provide further support,” Sunwing said in its statement to CityNews.

Gallagher claims Sunwing has not reached out to her or her family. She’s looking to get reimbursed for the flight she had to book in order to return home

“At the very least, financial reimbursement from our flights that we should have taken back and reimbursement from all the receipts I submitted in the claim, including our flights, our hotel, our transportation and our food,” she said.