A boy suffering an allergic reaction was forced off a Phoenix-bound plane this week as a spatter of heartless passengers clapped.
The 7-year-old and his parents were on an Allegiant flight due to depart from Bellingham, Washington, Monday when dogs aboard the aircraft triggered an
allergic attack, King5.com reported.
"He began to get very itchy and he was scratching all over," mom Christina Fabian said of her son Giovanni. "He started to get hives, so we informed the flight attendant who informed us that there's dogs on every flight and just smirked, which minimized his experience for me."
Fabian said her son's condition did not improve and the flight was ultimately delayed. Eventually, the family was asked to deplane, according to the local station.
As they were getting off the plane, some passengers in the back reportedly began clapping.
To add insult to injury, Giovanni's dad, George Alvarado, is suffering from stage-4 terminal cancer and the family was on their way back from a
"bucket list" trip to visit relatives, according to the Daily Mail.
"That crushed us was that our 7-year-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," Fabian later wrote in a Facebook post, according to the U.K. newspaper. "Then he proceeded to say 'I can't believe people clapped. They shouldn't do that because they never know who already has sadness in their hearts.'"
"Shame on you for being so cruel. What would you have done if he had stayed silent and died on that flight?" Fabian continued.
Allegiant told King5.com that the airline has apologized to the family and is in "direct contact" with them.
Some on social media had choice words for Allegiant and the passengers who applauded the family.
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