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Metro Detroit woman in wheelchair left at Chicago airport after flight canceled

Local woman in wheelchair left at O'Hare
Posted at 5:55 PM, Dec 03, 2018
and last updated 2018-12-03 18:06:30-05

American Airlines is investigating how a 67-year-old woman in a wheelchair was left alone overnight at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport when her flight was canceled.

The incident, first reported by CBS 2 in Chicago, started Friday night when Olimpia Warsaw's flight from Chicago to Detroit was canceled and a porter was assigned to take care of her. Her son, Claude Coltea, says Warsaw was offered a hotel room but when nobody would take her, the porter said his shift was over and left.

"Here I am, all by myself. Nobody would bother to help me," she tells 7 Action News.

The family grew concerned and called security, and the woman who suffers from Parkinson's disease and has trouble communicating was located.

She tells us she assumes no one understood her because her disability impacts her speech.

In a statement, American spokesman Ross Feinstein says the airline met with the family, refunded Warsaw's ticket and was taking steps to "ensure this does not happen again."