Giving A COVID Patient CPR On United Flight Earns Passenger Measly Gift Card

Saving the life of a passenger on a United flight that has COVID won’t score you anything more than a gift card, despite risking your health to help.

United passenger Tony Aldapa performed CPR on a 56-year-old man that was infected with COVID-19 for 45 minutes, and all he received from the airline for his efforts was a $200 electronic travel certificate, TMZ reported.

While Aplpada, who is a licensed EMT and a Los Angeles Veteran’s Hospital emergency room healthcare worker, was not aware that the man had COVID-19 on the Dec. 14, flight that was traveling from Orlando, Florida, to Los Angeles, he told Business Insider, he would not change his decision to help the man.

"It didn't really matter," he said. "I was already following protocols, quarantining and getting tested anyway."

The man did not notify the airline that he was experiencing COVID symptoms, but his wife was later overheard telling EMTs that her husband had lost his sense of taste and smell, Business Insider said.

The man, who claimed he had not been diagnosed with COVID, later died after an emergency landing in New Orleans, where it was confirmed he had the virus, dying from acute respiratory failure, The Washington Post reported.

In a Twitter post, Alpada reiterated he would have made the same decision to help the man even if he would have known he had COVID.

Looking back I would not change my actions, but I may have stepped up earlier. Knowing I had the knowledge, training and experience to help out, I could not have sat idly by and watched someone die.
— Face (@TonyAldapa) December 19, 2020

Alpada tested negative three times for the virus following the flight incident, but he did have COVID symptoms, including fatigue, body aches, headaches, and cough, he told Business Insider.

Alpada told TMZ a representative from United called him on Thursday thanking him for his assistance during the emergency and awarded him a $200 travel voucher as an appreciation.

Other passengers who assisted the man also got the call from United and the $200 voucher, while others on the flight did not receive anything, TMZ reported.

United told TMZ, it is not their responsibility, but rather the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s to notify people if they have been exposed to the coronavirus.

Aldapa told the news outlet he was not notified by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health until 10 days after the exposure to the man.