A 407-pound woman died from kidney failure in her native country of Hungary after three airlines denied her a trip back to the United States.
Vilma Soltesz, 56, died of kidney failure on Oct. 24 in Hungary, where she and her husband, Janos, took an annual vacation to a home they owned in Hungary.
Vilma and her husband live in the Bronx, New York full-time, but while vacationing, they tried to get back home to see her doctors after some health complications.
On the flight to Hungary via KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the one-legged woman was airlifted into the plane and was given a seatbelt extender to accommodate her size.
However, when the family was set to depart on Oct 15. to board another KLM flight the airlines the captain forced Vilma to exit the plane after having trouble fitting her in a seat.
According to the family’s attorney, the airline’s “failure to make simple accommodations, that had been made prior, led to Vilma’s death. This is not best efforts in any regard.”
KLM claims every effort was made to accommodate Vilma.
Vilma and her husband waited at the airport for five hours waiting for a solution. The couple was then sent to Prague where Delta was also unable to accommodate Vilma’s size with a plastic wheel chair and no sky lift.
Finally the couple tried Lufthansa, but Vilma was forced to exit the plane after being unable to strap her seatbelt.
Lufthansa says it worked with the fire brigade and technical experts in order to help Vilma but was unable to find a solution.
Vilma died two days later.
Janos Soltesz, Vilma’s husband, plans to pursue a lawsuit against the three airlines that denied his wife passage home, where she desperately needed medical treatment.
