United flyers help woman suffering medical episode, question why plane didn't turn around

A passenger on a Sunday United Airlines flight from Houston to Cincinnati didn't want another passenger having a medical episode for nearly two hours to go unnoticed.

So, passenger Amy Hammond put a video of the woman on United flight 3466 and a man she called a "hero" on social media.

"I didn't want this swept under the rug," Hammond said.

United confirmed there was an in-flight medical incident in an emailed statement Monday from spokesman Jon Austin.

"This weekend, a customer experienced a medical issue aboard Republic Airlines flight 3466 operating as United Express between Houston and Cincinnati," said Austin. "While in flight, the customer received care by our crew with guidance from our on-call medical service as well as from a health care professional on board. The flight landed safely in Cincinnati where the aircraft was met by medical personnel and the passenger was transported to a local hospital.”

United was at the center of international headlines in 2017 about the treatment of a passenger. Other passengers shared a video showing man being dragged off a plane in Chicago before it left for Louisville.

A Washington Post article detailed how United's removal of the doctor by force went viral and tanked the Chicago-based company's stock a little more than a day later on April 11, 2017.

Hammond, a teacher, said she filmed the young mother's medical episode because she was upset the plane wasn't turned around after it left Houston. The woman who experienced the medical episode, in her 20s, was traveling with a young boy age 3 or 4 in the seat next to her, Hammond said.

The video 45-second video starts with the back of a woman's head rapidly moving from side-to-side.

A voice says over a speaker the flight is about 140 miles from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) and will land in about 30 minutes.

"Hey, you gotta wake up, hey," the man sitting across the woman says.

The woman's head moves to the right, and the man picks up the woman and repositions her in the seat.

It appears the man and the woman are speaking to one another again a few seconds later.

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Hammond said medical episode started shortly after the plane ascended into the clouds after taking off in Houston.

The flight crew on flight 3466 issued a loudspeaker call for a doctor, Hammond said.

Another passenger, who said he had medical training, responded and mostly stood and watched as the "hero" passenger gave care, Hammond said.

The "hero" said he was a firefighter, she said. He used oxygen and words to revive the woman a dozen times, Hammond said.

"I heard him yell you have to breathe at least 200 times," she said.

The other passengers remained calm, she said. Nobody screamed or tried to escalate the situation.

All the while, the "hero" passenger emptied one oxygen bottle and nearly emptied a second oxygen bottle, Hammond said.

The woman could not answer questions including who the president was or what day or month it was by the time the plane neared Cincinnati's airport, Hammond said.

Paramedics had to carry the woman off the plane at CVG around 7:49 p.m., she said.

While the "hero" helped the woman, other passengers took her child to the bathroom, Hammond recounted.

The young boy came back and his mother was not responding verbally, Hammond said. He touched his mother's arm.

"He was like 'Tickle, tickle,' " Hammond said.

"The hero always like smiled at him and always tried to downplay the severity of it for the boy," continued Hammond. "The hero always kept her talking."

Hammond said other people reached out to United Airlines to complain on her behalf. She said she couldn't find a phone number for a real person to speak with at United Airways about the incident. She wants to talk to airline officials though.

"I want to make sure another passenger is never put in danger," she said. "It should never happen again."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: United flyers help woman suffering medical episode, question why plane didn't turn around