Updated at 8:48 p.m., Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Kalani travelers return after East Coast delay
Advertiser Staff
A Kalani High School teacher and student arrived home from a Close Up Foundation trip to the East Coast tonight after being removed from a Continental Airlines flight the day before because the student had a prolonged coughing fit before takeoff.Teacher Maile Kawamura said the 16-year-old sophomore, who was part of a group that took the two-week tour, was cleared by a doctor aboard the flight but the pilot decided not to fly out of Newark, N.J., with the girl aboard. Kawamura stayed back with the girl while the rest of her students came home Tuesday night.
The plane was on the runway waiting for clearance to take off when the incident occurred, Kawamura said.
Kawamura said flight attendants told her the decision stemmed from an incident Monday when a Continental flight from Hong Kong arrived with sick passengers. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control were called in.
The airline initially did not offer to help her or the student, Kawamura said, but eventually offered to reimburse them for expenses.
