A Montreal woman is furious with Air Canada after she was kicked off her flight home from Costa Rica for travelling without an EpiPen.
Zella Leroux-Gillespie suffers from a severe nut allergy and alerted the flight crew when she noticed some items on the in-flight menu contained almonds.
She told the flight attendant that she was not carrying an EpiPen because it had been stolen at the beach two days prior.
Air Canada responded by forcing her off the flight, without reimbursement.
She says she felt stranded in the airport, with nowhere to go and no idea what to do next.
EpiPens are in short supply in Costa Rica, but she managed to get a medical note from a doctor along with a prescription of Benadryl.
She booked a flight for the next day and returned home.
Now, she is demanding Air Canada refund her second flight, which she had to pay for out of pocket. She is also demanding the airline pay for her hotel room, the medical expenses, and $1,000 in moral damages.
Air Canada says it makes clear on its website that travellers with medical needs must bring appropriate and sufficient medication, and it reserves the right to remove customers who do not meet that requirement.
Federal regulations necessitate every flight with more than 100 passengers have an in-flight medical kit that contains at least four doses of epinephrine, the medical ingredient in an EpiPen.