Woman On Plane Denied Call To Suicidal Husband: Southwest Passenger Denied Emergency Call To Husband, He Commits Suicide

A woman was denied making a phone call on a plane to stop her husband from committing suicide. Karen Momsen-Evers from Wisconsin received a text message from her suicidal husband saying he was going to kill himself. She sent a text back, but flight attendants forbid her to call before the plane was to take off, Mashable reports. She was instructed to put her cell phone on airplane mode.

The text message that Evers received from her husband, Andy, read: “Karen, please for forgive me for what I am about to do, I am going to kill myself.”

Evers said she tried calling her husband again once the plane was at cruising altitude, but was denied making the phone call by another flight attendant, she tells WTMJ4.

“The steward slapped the phone down and said you need to go on airplane mode now.”

The distraught passenger had to sit and wait out the flight for over 2-and-a-half hours from New Orleans back to Milwaukee.

The passenger said that she was told by Southwest that FAA regulations didn’t allow her to call when she wanted to. Due to this policy, Evers believes being denied that phone call ultimately resulted in her husband’s suicide. She thought she could stop it.

Once Evers got off the plane in Milwaukee, she called police and met them at her house. Her husband, Andy, was found dead after police entered the house.

“They got on their knees, put their hats over their heart and gave me the I regret to inform you that your husband has died,” Evers said.

Southwest Airlines issued a statement after the woman on one of their planes was denied making a phone call to her suicidal husband.

“Our hearts go out to the Evers family during this difficult time.

Flight attendants are trained to notify the Captain if there is an emergency that poses a hazard to the aircraft or to the passengers on-board.

In this situation, the pilots were not notified.”

None of this brings back the passenger’s husband, however. She blames the lack of urgency on the airline’s part in making certain she reach her husband before he killed himself.

“The pain of knowing something could have been done, it breaks my heart,” Evers said.

Was there a way that Southwest could have placed an emergency call to their passenger’s husband? This woman wanted to feel she did all she could to stop her husband from committing suicide, but was on a plane where she had little control over the situation.

[Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images]