LIGHTEN UP Man tossed off plane to reduce weight on board

Posted on 03/01/2016

Dan Nykaza, a dentist, was belted in his seat on an American Airlines 'Envoy' regional flight departing from O'Hare to Salt Lake City.  However, as the plane was preparing for take-off, Nykaza and another passenger were told they had to leave the aircraft to reduce the weight.  Nykaza weighs 175 lbs.

Speaking to ABC7 Chicago, an angry Nykaza said, “I'm sitting on the plane 20-30 minutes and the flight attendants came up to me and said, ‘You have to get off. You have to get off. You're out of the plane.’“And I'm like ‘Why?’ Because there was too much weight on the plane and nobody would take the voucher they were offering. So they chose two people, me being one of them.“So I missed the entire weekend. My nephew was there, my daughter, it was sad. “I was in shock, I didn't sleep that night, I was kinda numb all first day or two.”Nykaza, who has 'platinum status,' said he was so disgusted by the decision he turned down the $200 voucher.He subsequently sent an email to the airline but did not hear anything back for a week. American Airlines have now issued an apology and provided Nykaza with a $500 voucher and 15,000 air miles. A spokesman said under a federal passenger rights law, he ought to have been offered more than a $200 voucher. He also said flight attendants should have removed the people who booked last, rather than the last 'checked-in' passengers.