A disabled Army veteran was reportedly not allowed to be aboard a plane last week in Virginia because she uses a walker.
Kathleen Wood told MyFoxBoston.com she was not allowed to board a shuttle at Reagan National Airport in Virginia last week as she returned to Walpole, Mass., from a vacation in Florida. Wood and her husband had to change flights in Virginia and had just 30 minutes to do so.
Wood, who suffers from lupus, also has a permanent back injury from a fall she took 12 years ago while serving in the Army. She tried to change gates along with the rest of the passengers, but a U.S. Airways employee refused to let her do so because of her walker.
"We tried to explain the best we could that he could fold the walker and that I could walk short distances and go up stairs," she told the website. "Still she refused and shrugged her shoulders."
Wood was forced to walk several hundred yards and underwent another security screening. They made the connecting flight with seconds to spare.
"It really hit a nerve when you think of other people being denied access," Wood said. "It just blew my mind. Blew my mind."
U.S. Airways told the website that they will call Wood to apologize.
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