( CNN ) All Elizabeth Sedway wanted was to leave paradise and head home . But she could n't . Why ? Because , according to her , she has cancer . That 's what she said in a video posted to Facebook that shows her group packing up from their Alaska Airlines plane as it sat at the gate in Hawaii . `` You 're taking me off the airplane because I do n't have a doctor 's note saying I can fly , '' a woman is heard saying . `` All these people are waiting , and I 'm being removed as if I 'm a criminal or contagious , because I have cancer and no note to fly . '' Sedway did eventually get on a flight back to San Jose , California , although she did n't get home until late Tuesday night . And she got an apology . `` We regret the inconvenience Ms. Sedway experienced ... and are very sorry for how the situation was handled , '' Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said . `` ... While our employee had the customer 's well-being in mind , the situation could have been handled differently . '' Her cancer fight notwithstanding , Sedway was in Hawaii in time to celebrate her 14th wedding anniversary . Still , on Monday , she was on a plane to head east . Then , according to her Facebook post , an airline employee who saw Sedway seated in the handicapped section asked her how she was doing . The second time she inquired , Sedway wrote that she responded by saying she sometimes felt weak . That was followed by a call to a doctor , then her removal from the plane . Egan , the Alaska Airlines spokeswoman , acknowledged that the carrier 's policy when someone has a medical issue is to call MedLink , a group of ER nurses and doctors . The idea , she explained , is that `` it is better to address medical issues or concerns on the ground rather than in the air , especially on flights to or from Hawaii '' -- which in that case would last five-plus hours over open ocean . The decision to pull Sedway from the flight was done with `` the customer 's well-being '' in mind , according to Egan . Still , that does n't mean it was the right decision . Alaska Airlines since apologized to Sedway `` for the disruption this has caused , '' in addition to refunding her family 's tickets and paying for their overnight accommodations . '' Even though she was stuck in Hawaii , Sedway made clear on Facebook that this was a real `` disruption . '' `` Because of this , I will miss my chemotherapy , my children will miss school and my husband will miss important meetings , '' she said .
Elizabeth Sedway posted to video to Facebook showing her removal from a plane . She was forced off a flight in Hawaii and told she could n't head home to California . Alaska Airlines later apologized , saying it could have handled the situation differently .