Local woman claims airline mislead her after leg surgery

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A 20-year-old woman from Massachusetts says she’s been fighting a rare disease, and after undergoing a recent surgery her family sent her on a trip to Florida, but she claims the airline failed to fulfill its promise.

That surgery was the 14th for Jacynda Pena, who suffers from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Her symptoms are loose joints, stretchy skin and abnormal scar formation, which causes her to be in chronic pain at times.

Her family bought her plane tickets on Frontier Airlines from Providence to Orlando where relatives live.

“It’s a big surgery. I’m not willing to ruin it on a flight,” she told Boston 25 News reporter Malini Basu.

Pena says she called the carrier repeatedly  days before the flight to make sure she was accommodated with an extra free seat.

“They told me I would have a full row. That I could stretch my leg out,” she said.

But when she arrived that wasn’t the case.

“They made me feel so small, what I was going through didn’t matter,” she said.

Doctors had told Pena she would need to keep her leg straight, but she claims she was forced into a cramped spot. Eventually she was moved to the first row, but claims she still had her foot touching the bulkhead.

Pena said the flight attendant wasn’t helpful.

“Her response was, ‘if you don’t like your seat, you can help yourself off the plane,’” Pena said.

A spokesperson for Frontier Airlines denies they offered her a free seat but told us said the crew did work to make her comfortable.

'Ms. Pena was seated in an extra legroom seat (3F) and was dissatisfied with it, our crew then actively worked to reseat Ms. Pena in a seat where she would be more comfortable. She was then seated in the bulkhead seat, (1C), where she would have no seat in front of her." (Scroll down for full statement.)

Pena says, even after the flight landed, the problems continued and she had to wait almost an hour for a wheelchair.

“I was in tears, in so much pain, I’m not supposed to bend my leg,” she said. “I was a check, that’s not how it should be. I’m a person with feelings and was in pain the whole time.”

A spokesperson for the airline tells us, Pena has an upcoming flight scheduled and they will continue to work with her.

The 20-year-old wants to make it clear, she wants her story told, so no one else would have to go through what she did.

Full statement from Frontier Airlines:

“Our crew and reservations acted in accordance with our internal policies and procedures. Ms. Pena was seated in an extra legroom seat (3F) and was dissatisfied with it, our crew then actively worked to reseat Ms. Pena in a seat where she would be more comfortable. She was then seated in the bulkhead seat, (1C), where she would have no seat in front of her. This passengers initial request to our reservations team was for a seat with extra legroom and this was provided free of charge. Ms. Pena has an upcoming flight scheduled with us and we continue to work with her to find an acceptable solution including allowing her to purchase the adjacent seat for the original cost - $19.20. She declined this offer.”

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