A WOMAN who claimed she was forced to wee in a cup on a United Airlines flight has been pictured for the first time.
Kansas City resident Nicole Harper claimed she had tried to use the toilet on a United flight last month but she was told to return to her seat by a flight attendant as the seatbelt sign was on.
Nicole suffers from an overactive bladder but said that when she informed staff of her condition, they handed her a cup rather than allowing her to get out of her seat.
She said: “I said ‘I’m going to need to use the restroom or I’m going to need a cup’.
“They handed me the cup which was about this big and I was like ‘I’m going to need a second cup’ – I don’t know if they just didn’t understand that I don’t have any control over the situation.”
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In a statement issued by the airline, United claim that the partner-operated Mesa Airlines flight had been midway through its final descent when the incident occurred.
A spokesperson said: “Customer safety is always our first priority. Initial reports from the Mesa Airlines flight attendants indicate that Ms. Harper attempted to visit the lavatory on final descent and was instructed to remain seated with the seat belt fastened per FAA regulations.”
They added: “The situation as described by Ms. Harper and our employees is upsetting for all involved.”
“We have reached out to Ms. Harper and our flying partner Mesa Airlines to better understand what occurred. ”
However in an irate Facebook post, Harper claims that the incident happened much earlier in the flight, and that other passengers had been allowed by flight attendants to use the bathroom while the seatbelt sign was on.
Harper was prompted to share her story on the social media platform after the airline allegedly stopped responding to her attempts to discuss it with the company’s customer service team.
The A&E nurse wrote on Facebook: “While allowing other passengers to get up and use the restroom on a seemingly uneventful flight, United Airlines crew wouldn’t allow me to get up and use the restroom until the pilot turned off the seat belt sign.”
“After explaining that I have an overactive bladder and would either need to use the restroom or pee in a cup, I was handed a cup by flight attendants.”
She added “The flight attendants treated me like I had committed a crime, stating they would be filing a report, calling in the hazmat team to clean the entire row and told me I would need to talk with the pilot after the flight…
“And to top it all off, once on our final descent… a gentlemen got up from first class (yes the seat belt sign was on, and the plane was flipping tilted) walked right by a smiling flight attendant and entered the bathroom.”
However, the flight attendant and blogger Amanda Pleva recently revealed that flight attendants are obliged by law to tell you when the seatbelt sign is on.
She said: “We cannot answer you one way or the other if you ask permission to get up to use the bathroom while the seatbelt sign is on.
“We would be violating the law by providing a response other than ‘The seatbelt sign is on.’ After that, the decision is left to you.”
According to the post, the incident occurred on the same day United passenger Dr. Dao was violently dragged off an overbooked flight by airline security.
The Sun Online has approached United Airlines for further comment.