Just days after Air Canada confirmed reports that a sleeping passenger was forgotten on one of its aircrafts, a second woman has come forward claiming she was also abandoned by the airline.
Sixty-nine-year-old Pamela Prescod, who is visually impaired, requested a wheelchair and help deplaning due to various health issues, according to CTV News. She alleges that the plane’s crew instructed her to wait onboard for assistance upon landing but never returned, leaving her alone on the aircraft until a maintenance worker found her an hour later.
“(I was) scared because I have all these health issues,” Prescod told CTV News. “I didn’t even have a cell phone to call for help.
The carrier cited a “miscommunication among our employees” as the reason for the incident and claimed Prescod’s wait time was actually between 10-50 minutes, which they noted was “much longer than she should have” waited, in a statement to PEOPLE.
The airline stated that they “immediately reached out to the customer and we were deeply apologetic about this upsetting incident. We take our obligations to accessibility very seriously,” Air Canada told PEOPLE. “In this case, we recognize that there was a serious service failure in not providing the requested wheelchair as expected, which is why we fully refunded this customer’s fare and provided a $500 coupon for future travel.
“We have undertaken to review certain protocols with respect to on-board service. This involves reinforcing our procedures by more specifically designating responsibilities among crew members to ensure consistent and proper care and handling of all customers during the deplaning process, especially those with special needs.”
Still, Prescod, who called the incident “the scariest time of my life,” told CTV News, “I don’t think a plane ticket is good enough. I was traumatized.”
Last week, another passenger, Tiffani O’Brien, was traveling from Quebec City to Toronto on Air Canada when she fell asleep mid-flight and woke up hours later still buckled in her seat alone on a “freezing cold” and “pitch black” plane, according to a Facebook post shared by a woman who identifies herself as O’Brien’s friend.
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“I got super comfy reading my book, happy I scored my row all to myself (flight was about 1/4 full). I fell asleep probably less than halfway through my short 1.5 hour flight. I wake up around midnight (few hours after flight landed) freezing cold still strapped in my seat in complete darkness (I’m talking pitch black),” O’Brien wrote in a comment posted to Air Canada’s page by her friend Deanna Noel-Dale, who she had been visiting in Quebec and shared the full story on her behalf (identifying O’Brien as Tiffani Adams).
A representative for Air Canada told PEOPLE on June 24 that the airline is “still reviewing this matter” and has “no additional details to share, but we have followed up with the customer and remain in contact with her.
“When my seat [is] an inch back or my tray down flight crew take notice but yet you missed a person still strapped into her seat and all go on home?!?!” O’Brien’s message read.
Air Canada also responded to the Facebook post, writing that they were “very concerned” and promising to “look into it,” according to the Associated Press. Noel-Dale’s lengthy post has received more than 950 comments as of midday June 28.
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