Passenger in Pain Denied a Simple Drink of Water

Reading a story like this makes you wonder if some flight attendants just don't care about a suffering passenger.

Airline: Copa
Date: 19 December 2009
Location: En Route Panama City, Panama to Los Angeles (LAX)

I'm an Australian university student aged 20 and had been on a volunteer project in a small village in Ecuador during December. On the day I left the village I became sick with a gastric bug, suffering with diarrhoea and vomiting. I was ill on the bus and at the airport, although my symptoms stopped before I boarded the flight.

Once on the plane I asked the flight attendants several times for water. Once I was given two sips of water in a cup. I was quite distressed with thirst and tried to sleep but was too thirsty to do so. At one point I walked to the back of the plane and asked the steward for water. He acted as though he couldn't understand me. I said "agua por favor" and the steward responded in perfectly good English, "When you learn to speak Spanish, I'll get you some water", whereupon he opened a bottle of water and poured a tiny amount into a cup.

I’m troubled that the flight attendants could not provide me with at least one cup of water. I couldn't eat a thing, I don't drink alcohol and by the end of the 6 hour flight I was dehydrated - obviously a serious condition. I wrote a letter of complaint to Copa Air on 23rd December but have received no reply. I would like to receive an apology for the poor treatment which I received.

AirSafe.com Responds
An apology from the airline would be the least that they could do. An even better thing that the airline could do is to guarantee that no passenger, whether sick or healthy, has to beg for a cup of water.

Photo: matt_so