PR senator removed from Frontier plane after she is subject of complaints

Sen. Karen Román Rodríguez

By The Star Staff

New Progressive Party (NPP) Sen. Karen Román Rodríguez was removed from a Frontier Airlines flight at an airport in Orlando, Florida on Sunday night after people allegedly did not feel safe in her presence.

According to a press release issued by the senator early Monday, the situation began when the airline canceled her flight from Orlando to San Juan four times. In addition, they tried to charge her again for luggage she had already paid for.

When Román went to the Frontier counter, she identified herself as a senator and demanded to speak to a supervisor. The incident caused those waiting in line to become annoyed, with one person telling the senator she was “nobody in the United States.”

After completing the procedure, the senator boarded the plane. However, once she was in her seat, the pilot requested her removal from the flight, as some people reportedly had said they did not feel safe in her presence.

“I have never in my life had any situation in any airline or anywhere else, since we are people of law and order,” Román said in her statement. “I have certainly been discriminated against, as soon as I was identified, not only by the airline staff, but also by some people who were in line. I am a pastor and I have been doubly discriminated against. Anyone who knows me and my family knows that we are not people who cause problems. Simply because I am a senator of the NPP, I am now discriminated against and defamed. They orchestrated a group of alleged complaints to mount this terrible slander. We leave this in God’s hands.”

According to local press reports, Frontier Airlines issued a brief statement on Monday in which it noted the reasons why Román was removed from the flight.

The airline indicated that during the boarding process for Flight 4726 to San Juan, Román “made verbal threats against other passengers and Frontier team members,” according to the report.

“Due to her conduct, she was not allowed to continue the flight,” the airline said, adding that the senator was ultimately rebooked on a later flight with the same airline.

Juan Vega Quiñones, the president of the Organization of Popular Public Servants, a Popular Democratic Party (PDP) public sector organization, issued a statement later Monday morning in which he questioned Román’s use of her title to try to receive preferential treatment at the Orlando airport and asserted that the senator’s temper had gotten the better of her.

“Enough with the arrogance,” Vega said. “The regrettable situation involving the senator demonstrates, once again, how power has intoxicated members of the New Progressive Party. … It is no surprise that, instead of acting with humility and respect, the senator has chosen to flaunt her title to demand preferential treatment, forgetting that, in the United States and in Puerto Rico, we are all equal before the law.”

Vega, a former Senate candidate for the PDP, went on to say that Román’s behavior, “as we have become accustomed to from the leaders of the NPP,” “reflects a total disconnection with ordinary people and a disregard for the basic norms of coexistence.”

He added that “[u]sing God’s name to justify arrogant and discriminatory actions is disrespectful to true people of faith and to the people who expect decorum from their elected officials.”