A 7-year-old boy who suffered an allergic reaction on a plane was left in tears after passengers clapped as he was led off the flight.

Giovanni Alvarado was travelling from Washington to his home in Phoenix with his parents, one of whom has terminal cancer, when he began reacting to the dogs on the plane and, after moving seats failed to help, was taken off the 23 February flight.

His mother Christina Fabian wrote on her Facebook page: "We are not angry that we were de-planed. In fact, my husband and I appreciate that our son is safe. What crushed us was that our 7-yr- old boy looked at us with tear filled eyes and said, 'I'm sorry that I put you through this. This is all my fault' then he proceeded to say, 'I can't believe that people clapped. They shouldn't do that because they never know who already has sadness in their hearts'."

The trip was on the family intended to take to 'make memories' following his father George's diagnosis with terminal cancer, but it turned sour at the end after one of the flight attendants on Flight 171 commented there were 'dogs on every flight'.

The family were forced to leave the plane, which had then been delayed, and were dismayed to hear passengers begin clapping as they disembarked.

Christina wrote: "We are not sure why he had this type of reaction but we assume that it has something to do with the immense amount of stress that he has been under lately. He has been forced to helplessly witness terminal cancer ravish through his father's body...

"He was making memories with his father. Memories that you have now become part of. He will never forget that you clapped as he de-boarded that plane. Thank you for your insulting, ignorant, insinuating comments that minimized my son's experience, and make a horrible memory at the end of my husband's life."

This evening, I witnessed disgusting behavior from the passengers of Allegiant flight 171 Bellingham to Phoenix/Mesa. ... Posted by Christina Alvarado on Monday, 22 February 2016

Christina added that the rest of the staff on the Allegiant Airlines flight had been 'great', but that the woman who commented on the likelihood of dogs being on planed had "perpetuated the attitude of the other passengers".

The airline is believed to have contacted the family to apologise for the incident.

In a picture shared on her Facebook page, Christina said the family had landed back in Phoenix several hours later, having boarded a flight on Thursday 25 February.