Why you should reconsider flying on United

Our airlines have needed to rethink their systems since 2001. I hope United loses a very large amount of money over this.

Wow. Why did everyone have to be an asshole to her? Not her fault she's disabled.

Yeah, I hope they lose money over this too.

Not EVERYONE was an asshole: There was that guy on the plane who helped her put her luggage up.

But everyone who was being PAID to be helpful didn't. They should be whacked in the shins and fired twice, if you ask me.

Assholes.

As I read, I figured her age, her appearance, and the nature of her disability factored heavily into the reaction people had toward her. At the end, her reveal was not a surprise. People suck. They discriminate based on what their eyes see.

Well, the thing is, even if someone thought she was faking the need for a wheelchair and assistance, you'd have to at least take into consideration that a) helping lift one small bag is hardly a big deal, and b) who would waste that much time just to have someone roll you around an airport if you didn't have to?

Oh, it's not just United! I could add USAir, and the bastards at the Philly Airport.

I've only flown a few flights where things worked out halfway right On those, folks were nice, at least.

I'm amazed at how horrible the staff can be (Philly!!). I have the staff thinking I'm faking it, too, and they get very angry and disgusted about that (USAir).

I have to wear a neckbrace when I fly, and I need help with my luggage. I can move it some, but it's best to try to have someone else move it (it's a pain issue later).

I am astounded by the lack of paid porters everywhere, honestly. I bet airports/train stations, etc. could do with more of those, anyway [???]

Don't forget, this is entirely her version of events.

There are a lot of things that to me, don't add up. I'd be cautious of accepting anyone's blog rant as unvarnished truth until I knew more.

Who are these people who suspect chicanery when they see disability in the young? What assweebles.

What doesn't add up? It really does sound like what I've seen a lot, so I'm easy to convince that way, lol.

I don't get angry when the wheelchair isn't there, btw. I figure it's an unusual request, so I remind them and wait nicely and un-angry

[It's simpler to order a wheelchair to get help with the luggage, because although there is a box for 'ambulatory but needs help carrying stuff,' they never come. Ever! So they tell me to order a wheelchair for that part. We leave it and walk together, but it gets someone there...]

Wow, I've had one good experience with United helping me out (I have Fibromyalgia, so I also don't appear to be disabled), but if this story is true I will have to boycott them. If I were ever in such a situation I would not keep my cool. I am fortunate enough to not require a lot of assistance most days, but when things get bad I hope I'm no where near people as insensitive as these.

The only thing that makes me wonder is why she didn't make arrangements for a wheelchair and assistance when she booked her flight. Not to condone her treatment, of course, but it might have made things a whole lot simpler if she had.

Well for one thing, there's this:

"It was obvious to me from the beginning that it was going to be a difficult conversation when the first words she said to me were spoken in a very condescending and put-out tone:"

This is a supervisor whose job it is to deal with complaints, Whatever she might personally feel about the situation, it would be odd for her to purposefully escalate the problem from the very get go. Interpreting a tone can be quite subjective.

And this:

"I won't apologize for her actions and I'm not sorry for what happened to you..."

According to the writer, this is an exact quote. This just does not ring true to me as something a supervisor would say while dealing with a disabled person with a complaint.

Now it's certainly possible that everything was exactly how she reports it. But just because the woman is disabled doesn't automatically mean she's objective and truthful.

Many are appalled at the treatment she received. But again, it's only her version. My personal feeling, after reading the entire blog story, is that there was a lot more to it than she's reporting, and where you may get one picture of what this woman is like, I think I get something very different.

We "ship" my mom between Louisville and Jacksonville twice a year (family joke). The airline changes from time to time. We always let them know she's 90 and traveling alone, and they show up with a smile and a wheelchair (which she only needs if the distance is considerable) at the ticket counter. She says they always handle the transfer politely, and she's usually first off the plane.

No complaints from our experience, at least. The TSA's even usually pretty nice, and rarely force her out of the wheelchair.

I had decent luck when I flew home on United back in November. The food on Midwest Express was ten, twenty times better though. I swear ME is the only US airline I've ever been on that gives a hoot what they put in the galley.

But... had I been disabled? I'm certain experiences might vary.

Repeatedly explaining that you won't lift a bag must take about as much time and effort as just doing it, surely?

TBH this kind of thing happens all the time, on all the airlines. United isn't any worse than any others. Airlines regularly fail to assist disabled passengers, break personal wheelchairs, lose batteries and other wheelchair parts (or entire wheelchairs), treat disabled people like they are children, make wheelchair users crawl through the airport, and all manner of other horrors. Autistic children get thrown off flights with their families for being fussy or loud. Paraplegic individuals get thrown off planes because they are "unsupervised" disabled people. People with "invisible" disabilities like that blogger get neglected regularly. If you're fat, forget about it. Even if you buy two seats, they can still refuse to let you on the plane. Whether it's due to lack of training, lack of accessibility, or lack of compassion, honestly, this kind of crap happens all the time, and it's more than just United that needs to work on their service.

Lots of articles here: http://www.rollingrains.com/air-travel/

From the blogpost:

The flight itself was mostly uneventful, except for the screaming headache that started up even before take-off courtesy of a family with several young children sitting about three rows behind me. Adding that to the increasing pain in my back, I did something I don't normally do and asked for a Jack Daniels with my soft drink. The flight attendant gave me a disapproving look, but I was in too much pain and too aggravated at that point to bring myself to care or respond to it in any way. I put in my headphones, drank my whiskey and coke, and did my best to deal with it.

Click to expand...

Uh-huh. Nice. Real nice.

And "disapproving look"? For ordering a drink? Perhaps a comment or two accompanied that drink order.

I'd like to jump on the sympathy bandwagon here, but I'm with rugcat: I think there's a lot more to this and would like to hear another side, or two.

I dunnkow, I'd be snippy if my spinal column injury was acting up and people were being jerks to me.

And I'm like a walking care-bear.

robeiae said:

From the blogpost:

Uh-huh. Nice. Real nice.

And "disapproving look"? For ordering a drink? Perhaps a comment or two accompanied that drink order.

I'd like to jump on the sympathy bandwagon here, but I'm with rugcat: I think there's a lot more to this and would like to hear another side, or two.

Click to expand...

Me three...I work with the public and I've been in situations where customers accused an associate of "giving them a dirty look" or "using a rude tone of voice." Most of the time this wasn't the case...it was usually a matter of the customer not getting what they wanted so they escalated the event into a confrontation. It happened quickly, and left the associate in the position of defending themselves against vague accusations.

I don't think "looks" are the issue. The issue is explicitly refusing to provide luggage handling and repeated delays in providing a wheelchair effectively requiring disabled people to not travel alone or depend on stanger assistance--which is against the AwD act.

I fly United about 10 times a year and even based on my able-bodied experience I find the story, as written, very easy to believe. This is not a matter of blaming individual staff, the company itself needs to have and enforce correct protocols.

When I am not on United I am on AA and Delta and I don't think they are much different--some of the regional carriers are even worse. On my last business trip I swallowed the loss and caught a bus back rather than use a certain local carrier.

Eh, I'm sure there is more to this, but my bet is that there is an oversized grain of truth in here. It won't kill your employees to go out of their way for someone using a wheelchair, but it's not surprising that they wouldn't. My sister, who has some mild congenital neurologic deficits, now checks even small bags after a few bad experiences. Most of my patients are disabled and many of the families have airline horror stories.

My expectations for flying are really low, as in I think of it like a really expensive form of Greyhound.

I'm willing to give the lady the benefit of the doubt, but I'm still waiting to see what United's response is.

Also, I've worked customer service enough to know that sometimes, when something goes wrong with a customer, it creates a "cascade failure" with that customer, once it starts,it just keeps going wrong. I don't know why. Maybe it is karma. But it does happen. I've seen it more than once. Not excusing anybody, you understand. Just making an observation.

Not going to defend what happened but there are two sides to every story...

Why did EVERY last airline employee treat her so horribly--? Unless she was sending some kind of bad vibes, it seems like ONE of them would eventually have shown a softened attitude..., In a business that is customer-oriented every one of them was a jerk??? Seems odd.