Korean Air is under fire after telling a woman and her autistic son to deboard one of their airplanes before takeoff.

On July 29, a woman wrote in an online community that she and her autistic adult son were denied a flight on Korean Air on a July 26 flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to Incheon International Airport. The woman explained that she had already revealed that her son had autism even at the check-in and have constantly been notifying the flight attendants of her son's condition.

She explained that her son seemed to feel trapped, so he ran out, and the male flight attendants went after him. She explained, "The seats were very cramped and my son must have felt trapped, so he ran out. I could have gone to get him but the male flight attendant went to get him. My son was prescribed medicine just in case and he took them. It takes a while for the medicine to kick in so he got up from his seat a total of four times and walked around."

The woman explained that her son didn't scream or cause a stir. She elaborated, "My son didn't scream or cause a ruckus by waving his hands or anything. The flight attendants might have thought he looked anxious, but he didn't cause harm to anyone. but the flight attendant came to us and asked us to get off the plane." She continued to complain that she did not understand why she was told to get off the flight when her son did not cause harm to others.

According to Korean Air, there are no restrictions on boarding for passengers with an autism spectrum disorder. However, Korean Air explained the woman's son had wandered around the cabin after getting on the flight, ran out towards the boarding bridge, and did not sit down despite being asked several times.

Due to safety procedures, passengers on board are prohibited from leaving the cabin and then re-entering. Korean Air continued to explain, "His guardian followed him around and tried to stop him but the situation continued. It was impossible to keep him seated in his seat." Therefore, the captain decided to ask the two to leave in consideration of the safety of the others on the flight.

Additionally, Korean Air also explained that they were not notified of the man's condition during check-in or the boarding and the flight attendants were unable to confirm if the guardian would be able to control the man. Therefore, Korean Air decided to take measures for the safety of others.

However, there has been a mixed response in regards to this. Some netizens say Korean Air took the proper precautionary measures, while some criticize that Korean Air was discriminating against a disabled man.

Netizens commented, "Her son's a grown man, I think Korean Air took the proper measures because they asked him to sit down four times," "Yeah he ran out of the plane once, and was constantly walking around the cabin," "The flight attendants did a good thing because clearly, the mother wasn't able to control her son since he got up four times," and "I don't think this is discrimination but it was the proper thing to do for the other people on board too."

Others commented, "This is so sad," "How can they ask them to get off the flight right before departure," and "This is clear discrimination."