A 16-year-old girl from Hawaii was ordered off a Continental Airlines flight after she began uncontrollably coughing in her seat, according to her family and classmates.

---

IMAGES: More strange stories, images

---

Kalani High School student Rachel Collier was returning to Honolulu from a spring break trip to New York and Washington when she began to cough in her airplane seat.

"I was behind her she started coughing like I heard she couldn't breathe and it felt like something was in the back of her throat," classmate Avya Tawfir said.

The girl's family said the pilot ordered the girl off the flight because she was ill.

"Upon boarding the plane (she) was asked to leave by the pilot because she had a little bit of a coughing spell," mother Stephanie Collier told KITV-TV in Hawaii. "I'm frustrated. I'm really, really frustrated. Why they would do that, especially with two teachers escorting 40 children across the United States, and for the pilot to make that kind of decision."

Collier's father, Randy, was angered over the fact that his daughter was left behind.

"When you get a call at 8:30 in the morning saying from a crying daughter you kind of get a little freaked out what's going on," he said.

Collier's classmates said several of the students on the trip had been sick and a few had gone to the hospital.

Earlier, 272 passengers were ill and there were concerns about the bird flu, but health officials said the victims on the plane were suffering from a seasonal flu.

Rachel Collier and her teacher are scheduled to return to Hawaii Wednesday night.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.