Woman on Southwest flight not allowed to call husband after getting suicidal text

A woman flying Southwest Airlines said she was refused help when she received a text message from her husband shortly before their flight was scheduled to take off saying he was going to kill himself.

According to WGN, Karen Momsen-Evers was flying to her home in Wisconsin when her husband, Andy, texted her, “Karen, please forgive me for what I am about to do, I am going to kill myself…”

She responded “no” and attempted to make a call.

“The steward slapped the phone down and said you need to go on airplane mode now,” Karen told WTMJ. She said her husband had been stressed and she began panicking when she got the text.

Momsen-Evers was told she couldn’t make a phone call because of “FAA regulations,” even in the case of an emergency. “The steward slapped the phone down and said you need to go on airplane mode now,” she said.

She said she sobbed the entire flight and as soon as they landed, she called police. She was met at her home by two police officers who informed her that Andy had killed himself, WGN reported.

“Our hearts go out to the Evers family during this difficult time,” Southwest Airlines said in a statement about the incident. “Our 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.”

Contact Kristen DeSilva at 702-477-3895 or kdesilva@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @kristendesilva