May 14, 2010 - Flight Attendants Forget Blind Woman

A young Canadian woman who has been blind since birth says flight attendants left her on an empty plane at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

Jessica Cabot, 18, of Courtenay, British Columbia, said the experience last month scared her so much she is now afraid to fly alone, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Cabot had to change planes at O'Hare while flying from British Columbia to join her fiancee in Jacksonville, Fla.

"I was instructed by the flight attendant to wait until everybody else got off the plane," she told the CBC in a telephone interview. "That's what they tell me every time so I didn't think anything of it."

But no one came to help her and a few minutes later she heard the sound of the aircraft door being sealed closed. No one answered her pleas for assistance.

She said she was unsure if she could get out of the aircraft on her own.

Fortunately, her ordeal was short. Within 10 minutes, a maintenance crew arrived and rescued her.

United Airlines gave her a $250 voucher and said it is working with its employees and contractors to ensure no one else is forgotten.

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