Woman flying to see dying mother kicked off United flight

A Colorado woman missed the chance to see her dying mother after an online travel agency canceled her ticket just before her flight departed.

Carrol Amrich learned on January 16 that her 80-year-old mother Dixie Hanson was hospitalized in Minnesota.

But minutes before the plane was about to take off, a United Airlines agent told her she had to get off the plane.

"I knew at that time I’d never see my mother again," she said.

What happened?

Amrich couldn't afford a plane ticket for the thousand-mile journey from Pueblo to Minneapolis, so her landlord bought a $585 United Airlines ticket through Traveler Help Desk for her to leave the next day.

However, her mother's condition worsened, and it was clear she would not make it through the night.

Her landlord, Ines Prelas, called United directly and paid an additional $75 so Amrich could fly standby that Tuesday afternoon.

The two rushed from Pueblo to Colorado Springs, where Amrich was set to fly through Denver to Minneapolis.

Amrich checked in and a United agent scanned her boarding pass with no problem. She stowed her bag, took a seat and buckled in.

Then, the unexpected happened.

A United agent came aboard the plane to tell Amrich that her ticket had been canceled.

“I said ‘I’m trying to get home to see my mother. She’s dying,” Amrich said. “She goes, “I can’t help it. You have to have a ticket, no one flies for free. Please disembark.’”

'... She was gone before I got there'

Prelas pleaded with United over the phone to get Amrich a new ticket to get back on the plane, as she sobbed in the airport. It was the last flight of the day.

Amrich resorted to driving.

"I drove 1,000 miles, and she was gone before I got here,” she told the New York Times. “I never stopped to rest. I went straight through. And she was gone.”

Travel agency, United respond

Traveler Help Desk confirmed that Amrich's ticket was canceled.

Carolyn Gallant, a customer-service supervisor at Traveler Help Desk, said Amrich's ticket was voided after a change was made to the reservation to protect her from fraud, according to the Times.

"We had no way of knowing this was a change by Ms. Amrich directly with the carrier," she said in an email to the Times.

The agency said they tried to reach out to her "numerous times." But, Amrich and Prelas said they didn't hear anything from them.

"I am just so sorry for Ms. Amrich’s loss," Gallant continued. "It is tragic. I understand it was unfortunate the ticket ended up voided. Had she contacted us directly to make the change, this all would have been avoided."

Prelas said that she repeatedly told a United representative that she booked Amrich’s ticket through an online agency and that the agent assured her that it was no problem making changes directly through them.

In a statement, the United referred questions about the mix-up to Traveler Help Desk. The airlines added that it refunded all they money for the ticket and fees.

Prelas told the Times a woman from United’s Chicago headquarters called her back to ask for Amrich’s address to send flowers.

"What are the flowers going to do? You took away from her that she might have been able to see her mother alive," Prelas said. "If I’d have been at that gate, I would have done everything in my power to get her back on that plane."

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

READ MORE: