Outrage! Delta made this man crawl on and off the plane!

It's not often I come across a story that actually does raise my blood pressure a bit. Not often at all. Generally, outrage is an intellectual thing and not personal or emotional. This one is a bit of an exception. My wife is too close to the condition of this man. This could too easily be her some day. There is no excuse and their pathetic attempts to pacify him only made it much worse, in my view. Let me share what this is about. See if you might be upset too.

Flight from Maui, Hawaii to Nantucket, Massachusetts

Delta Air Lines forced a wheelchair-bound passenger to crawl onto and off its planes and across tarmacs, while Delta employees, "fearful of liability," watched, a man claims in court. D. Baraka Kanaan, of Maui, sued Delta Air Lines in Federal Court.

Kanaan claims Delta's "outrageous conduct occurred not once, but twice."

What happened twice was the lack of federally required equipment to accommodate a fully disabled individual in boarding and exiting the airplane. It's not a customer service. It's a requirement of Federal Law that this be available, in working order and available for the use of passengers like him. He even did everything a man could have done to insure this would be followed, well in advance.

After pointing out that Delta is the second-largest airline in the United States, with $36.6 billion in reported revenue in 2012 and profits of $1 billion, Kanaan continues: "As he always does when he flies and despite the fact that he is not required to do so, Mr. Kanaan called several weeks in advance of his flight and spoke to a customer service representative with Delta to confirm that he is disabled, that he would be traveling with his own wheelchair, and that he required the use of an aisle chair and lift to access the aircraft because he cannot walk.

"The representative assured him that all was noted in the company's travel database, and that he would be received and given reasonable accommodation for his disability.

What else can he reasonably do? Due diligence to that degree isn't even suggested, let alone required, yet it was still not enough.

Now this wasn't even as simple as learning at the airport he was departing from that problems would exist. No, the serious problems came when his first flight arrived in Nantucket. After landing and while sitting on the Tarmac, he was simply told they didn't have anything which could assist him. When he asked what his options were, the flight attendant simply said, "I don't know, but we cannot get you off the plane".

At this point, and despite being able to SEE the necessary equipment at a neighboring gate, he was left with no choice. He had to crawl down the isle, stairs of the aircraft and tarmac.

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Perhaps this could be disputed if it weren't public, but as one might imagine, it was very public with a good number of people watching this Professor in a nice suit, crawling across the friggin tarmac to get to his Wheelchair.

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Oh, but it didn't end here. He's now arrived, crawled off the plane and gotten to his wheelchair. In Nantucket, MA. He lives in Hawaii, where he flew from. There will be a return flight in this story.

First Attempt to Address the Problem

Upon making it into the terminal, the complain states, he immediately called Delta's number for Disabled Assistance to note his experience. Their response? He was offered a $100 Voucher. OoOoO.... So generous. They also assured him it would NOT happen again and his return flight would absolutely have the required equipment available. He took them at their word.

Return Flight - The Problems do NOT Improve

TWO DAYS LATER...........

"However, two days later, Mr. Kanaan's return flight, Flight 4245, was again delayed by defendants," the complaint states. "And, when boarding formally began, he was again informed that the necessary safety equipment, an aisle chair and a lift, were unavailable, but that they 'could provide a piece of cardboard to put down so that his clothes wouldn't get dirty.' ...

"Thus, Mr. Kanaan was again forced to crawl across the tarmac, up the stairs of the aircraft, down the aisle, and hoist himself into his seat on the aircraft, which was a physically painful experience for Mr. Kanaan. In the process he felt his spine twist and pull in awkward manners."

And once again, Kanaan claims: "As he did upon his arrival in Nantucket, Mr. Kanaan again observed a lift used to lower and raise disabled passengers at an adjacent gate only a few hundred feet away."

Source: Courthouse News

After arriving home he underwent an operation on his back injury. This is the original injury which caused his condition, not something he claims they caused. However, the additional issues this treatment caused did delay that necessary operation.

Second Attempt to Solve Problem

He called Delta from the Hospital while recovering from the ordeal and operation he had to get either way and was greeted with a similar response as the first time. This time, they 'generously' offered 25,000 miles for his frequent flier account. As one might imagine he wasn't having any of this and made it clear he had no desire to subject himself to similar treatment, so something other than vouchers and FF miles would be needed here. The story indicates he was then put in touch with Delta headquarters where another representative actually CUT the offered FF mileage and then outright hung up on him when that wasn't to his liking. :shk:

Conclusion

As he notes, Delta has a record of this bad conduct. At one point, they were fined millions of dollars for violations of this very area of regulation and he claims, lead the industry in Disabled complaints with over 2,300 racked up in 2009 alone.

He did file a complaint with the FAA, but they don't seem to be interested in getting back with him or pursuing it ...so it's now a full blown lawsuit.


Sometimes, I honestly think these companies make the majority of their own problems. Even the horrendous treatment of this man and his humiliation by CRAWLING ACROSS A TARMAC to reach his wheelchair was something he was prepared to move beyond ...if they'd treated him with some basic dignity and decency. Even that was beyond their meager customer service ability, it would seem.

Personally? I hope he outright cleans their clock on the lawsuit and puts a dent in their financial statement even that size company might remember for awhile!

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Surely the cost of the equipment is not as costly as a lawsuit. Hope he gets half their profits tho that is unlikely. A class action lawsuit may be able to strip them of their cash though.

Wow, that is absolutely pathetic. How someone can stand by and watch a disabled man crawl onto a plane is beyond me. It sounds like the employees didn't even try to help and they just stood there!!

He better be getting a fat sum of cash from this incident and IMO all the employees that stood there should be fired.

What surprises me even more is that people nearby would just stand there and watch this without chastising the Delta employees for this horrendous conduct.. If I had been there I would have helped that man if he wanted it. Then I would have roughed up some of the delta crew just on general principles, before hightailing it out of there..

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


holy crap! that is beyond words. they strip him of dignity, themselves of the title of human beings and probably their company of several thousand dollars.

Why is it that the dumbest in life either go to jail, die, or work in airports?

no one thought this was completely retarded? really? this seemed like the right call to a group of retards scratching their heads as they decided this disabled person should crawl and not even be helped into his seat?

I don't want to live on this planet anymore......

Wait...across "tarmacs"? Was this man crawling out on the AOA (Airfield operations area) or between gates in the terminal?

Crawling across the tarmac? This doesn't seem plausible considering the egress points of the plane at both airports are through extended bays that connect the plane to the terminal. Why "crawl" across the "tarmac"?

Honestly, something doesn't seem right here,

ETA: This wouldn't be the airline's responsibility. It should be the receiving airport. Airlines have customer service, but employes of the a particular airport (typically county run) provide the services required of disabled passages.

reply to post by ownbestenemy


This was his final leg on a series of flights. By lack of mention, I'd presume the other segments he flew were uneventful. I'd suspected this by the description but I hadn't looked at it to confirm, but I looked it up a moment ago and Nantucket Memorial Airport is more like a General Aviation/Municipal Airport than anything I'd think of when Delta comes to mind.

41.25921, -70.06545 is right next to their main operations building and a quick search on Google does confirm Delta is a 'Seasonal' carrier into that airport, just to make sure it wasn't strictly G.A. (it's that primitive looking). it's definitely the kind of airport you board and deplane directly onto the aircraft parking ramp/tarmac and then walk yourself to the building.

I probably should have checked all that to include at the start, but drop the coordinates into Google Maps and there it is from the air. That should make the layout and incident easier to picture for what happened here.


In terms of responsibility? I can see that to a point, but two problems appear here. I don't see the Airport being the responsible party once he crosses the threshold of the aircraft door and is on-board, if not before. They wouldn't help him into his seat for fear of liability, by what is said there. That's beyond simply a cold thing to do, IMO.

Also, he had called Delta well in advance and did everything but scout the airport to make sure it would be what was needed. I think if the Airport was the one with the burden, then Delta came to share it by failing to mention that point as he was working so hard to insure all was as required and they assured him it was.. The story says the airline is required to have this equipment, but either way, that advance call to be assured?

Oh, and then of course, the second call before departing where he'd again been told by Delta all would be in order for the second try at this?

I think they're about cooked on this one and rightfully so.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


"Delta Air Lines forced a wheelchair-bound passenger to crawl onto and off its planes and across tarmacs, while Delta employees, "fearful of liability," "

So they did not help him because they feared a lawsuit? The inaction led to a lawsuit? What kind of logic is this? Way back in the 80's, if a man needed help, a couple of dudes would come over and help, now, folks stand around and asses legal liability, talk, talk, talk and and do nothing, then take the problem to court. We are in a pit of despair.

I do not understand why two fellow passengers did not assist with a "fireman's carry". I could not stand by and watch this without offering some kind of assistance.

Originally posted by liveandlearn
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

Surely the cost of the equipment is not as costly as a lawsuit. Hope he gets half their profits tho that is unlikely. A class action lawsuit may be able to strip them of their cash though.

Now why in the world would he file a" class action" lawsuit? Such a suit is only available the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable. (FRCP 23). It is used when a million people are damaged a dollar each, not when one person is damaged a million dollars worth. And big corporations love class action cases. They only have to pay to defend one case, and if the class representative screws up the case, or runs out of money to pursue it, all other potential plaintiffs are barred from sueing.

Originally posted by DeepVisions
Wow, that is absolutely pathetic. How someone can stand by and watch a disabled man crawl onto a plane is beyond me. It sounds like the employees didn't even try to help and they just stood there!!

He better be getting a fat sum of cash from this incident and IMO all the employees that stood there should be fired.

edit on 25-7-2013 by DeepVisions because: (no reason given)

Good Samaritan Law?? Im not sure.

Originally posted by alienreality
What surprises me even more is that people nearby would just stand there and watch this without chastising the Delta employees for this horrendous conduct.

The ignorance of a group of Humans shouldn't be underestimated. It's shocking sometimes to see what people can get away with because others are too cowardly to speak up about it. There are several studies out there which show that there are some individuals who have a moral or ethical compulsion to act, and once one does several others suddenly discover their balls too. But it usually takes someone to start something for the sheeple to have the courage to do something.

Humans have a very strange social "pack mentality", especially when it comes to confronting authority or challenging instructions, but there are usually individuals willing to break out of that and actually do something. It seems there were none in this case, perhaps because too many people now fear the consequences of being argumentative on a plane? How many of those other passengers considered defending him against those staff but worried about being placed on a list or being refused flight?

I hope the guy kicks their butts and gets a massive settlement, and that the courts force the staff to undergo training, and force the airline to equip itself. They could be sued under false advertising too, or possibly even fraud. They gave the customer the impression that he would be catered to effectively, and they simply didn't do it. They not only caused him pain and suffering, they caused him embarrassment and humiliation. Add to that their inability to provide their customer with the expected service, he should be able to take them for a considerable stack of cash!

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Very wrong in so many ways.

What I don't understand is how the way the airline handled it absolves it of liability. If he injured himself having to crawl because they didn't have the right equipment/facilities, that would seem to be the airline's fault.

Heart breaking story.. However!

In my humble opinion, what other passengers did (did nothing) was a right thing to do, any kind of interference could be wrongly translated and they could alert the airport security… tossed out from the plane.. into the security office and stamped as trouble maker or worst.. terrorist! I won’t judge or blame them for not doing anything.

It is part of the flight attendants job/services (these lame idiots gets pay for this sort of stuff).

I hope he manage to sue the hell out of the airliner for this humiliation!

Originally posted by crankyoldman
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

"Delta Air Lines forced a wheelchair-bound passenger to crawl onto and off its planes and across tarmacs, while Delta employees, "fearful of liability," "

So they did not help him because they feared a lawsuit? The inaction led to a lawsuit? What kind of logic is this? Way back in the 80's, if a man needed help, a couple of dudes would come over and help, now, folks stand around and asses legal liability, talk, talk, talk and and do nothing, then take the problem to court. We are in a pit of despair.

yup welcome to the wonderful new world. if they had have helped him and something went wrong it would end up "their butts" on the line for a lawsuit, not to mention job loss. i suspect that this is pretty clearly made out to the employees, that this kind of "help" is against policy and therefore for them to help would be breaking that policy. oh in the case they tried to help and hurt themselves, they would also be screwed as they would likely not only be fired for breach of policy, but no medical benefits or loss of wage coverage for them. they would quite literally going out on a limb to help the poor guy.

most companies have POLICIES in place to protect the EMPLOYER against both lawsuits and things like having to pay either the employee for lost time or pay the HUGE FINES from workers comp, for an employee hurting themselves on the job. at my old job we were told the fine alone for a loss time work injury was $2,000 PLUS having to pay MORE than the employee would have gotten to workers comp, and the employee would receive LESS than their normal pay while off. but if the employee "broke the rules" then they have a chance of not having to pay out as well as the employee would NOT RECEIVE workers comp for lost time.

Toronto Transit Commission for example back in the 70's drivers would normal eagerly help carry a stroller on and off the bus. but due to injuries that happened they put a POLICY in place FORBIDDING the drivers to help anyone like that (which of course the passengers hold against "lazy drivers" and not the company that put the RULE in place). in fact there have been a few cases where a driver has helped someone in various ways (not even getting injured) and been FIRED for their troubles, sometime public outcry has gotten their jobs back, but not always. keep in mind ALL TTC buses now have cameras on them, before that drivers were fired after a grateful passenger called and thanked the TTC for the driver helping them, thinking of course it would look good for the driver, or a driver has done something like stopped a crime and it makes the news (oops).

sadly THIS IS THE REALITY in this day and age of everyone suing the crap out of everyone all the time.

as with this, i think that it would be the AIRPORT'S issue and not the airline since from what i have seen (my mother needed wheelchair help), it is the airports that supply the wheelchairs and stuff like that. i would have thought that in this case if nothing else they could have used the catering truck (the load area lifts up to the aircraft door for deliveries), but yet again that would have put the "CATERER", or trucking company or whoever into possible "LIABILITY ISSUES" so i would have to assume yet again it would have been "against the rules" to help.

in the end if you really want to lay blame for things like this BLAME THE PEOPLE WHO SUE OVER EVERYTHING, like for example spilling a "hot coffee" in their lap. that's who's fault it REALLY IS.

reply to post by liveandlearn

Surely the cost of the equipment is not as costly as a lawsuit.

The cost of the equipment times the number of airports Delta flys into.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

thinks, my face tingle with ANGER>> and then Here I am drying tears of ANGER for that poor man's indignant treatment.

i would have been arrested that day! and probably embarrassed the poor man more. But the profanities towards the crew would have been beyond Lenny Bruce

I would have carried that man everywhere he need to go... FFS!!!!


not a single MAN on that plane did anything?...REALLY?

What are the bounds of reasonable accomodations?

At some point we have to admit to ourselves that some people are not fit to fly on commercial aircraft.

But it's not PC to tell someone your are not a 'normal' person.

I know posting anger doesn't help - do anything, but if my sister was treated like this there w/b heck to pay, at an individual, and corporate level. Where is the humanity? The people that were working the plane, why didn't they just lend a hand? The customers, why didn't anyone pick him up and help him? What have we done to ourselves to let the very weakest amongst us to suffer while we what, gawk? I am so glad there are laws to protect those people from the harm festering in my heart. Yes, I am an airline employee, different company and we would never, never, never let this happen. If that day comes I will move on (last straw).

reply to post by samkent


It doesn't take much to get someone disabled onto a plane. I know sometimes they are demanding and indignant, especially traveling alone, but 99% of the time they are not and just need a helping hand. We can do this, it doesn't cost much. Perhaps a strong back, but we need to do these things for the measure of our humanity, if nothing else.