Ok, that worked, now for the real thing:
My particulars: American Airlines Miami Airport Sept 3, 2010 (overnight flight AA6852 from Seattle arrived about 7:15am. Flight AA935 to Caracas was scheduled to leave at 11:05am)
I had a 4 hour lay-over in Miami. Plenty of time for one last big American breakfast to make up for no dinner last night. However, American Airlines has the worst wheelchair service program in the world!
a.Different Wheel chair pushers or ¨drivers¨for incoming and outgoing flights.
b.Nobody can leave the arrival gate until all special needs people are gathered together at the top of the ramp.
c.All special needs people MUST go to American Airlines holding area and wait there (no bathrooms, no food) until ˝ - 1 hour before flight departure, when they will be escorted to their next departure gate.
d.NO Exceptions!
I was off the plane near the front, waited 45 minutes until the only other wheelchair passenger was off, then we went 20 feet to the elevator where we separated. My driver refused to stop at any of the Departure Boards to find my departure gate. He said they were not American Airlines. I knew my departure was Concorse E, we arrived at F, he took me through the terminal, outside, around the parking lot to D then to the other end of D to the ¨holding pen.¨ He said the man there would take care of me. I waited 20 minutes then approached him. He handed me my boarding pass with E7 written on it. I asked when I would go to E-7 he said not until ˝ to 1 hour before departure. I had to wait there almost 3 hours. I said I must eat before I can take my medicine. He said, ¨So, walk.¨ When I complained I couldn´t he just shrugged and turned away. I asked a supervisor at the check-in counter how to file a complaint about the wheelchair holding pen. She said the only way to do it is on-line. I asked if they had a computer to use and she said I had to use my own. She added, Miami handles more handicapped than anywhere else in the world (American Airlines world, anyway) and their system works, no problems. Go sit down and she’d come see me sometime.
I waited a few minutes, she never came and I needed my heart medicine. I started walking, sitting, walking, sitting after I got somebody to point the way to Concourse E. Turns out I had to follow my path back to where the driver had said the Departure Board was not American. Of course it was. Where we went outside, was the entrance to Concourse E. He could have left me off almost 2 hours earlier only a few gates away from my destination, if American Airlines had allowed him to. Instead I had to walk back with my heart straining from both lack of medicine and over exercise. I got food, medicine and to my gate, where I discovered the flight was delayed. Actually it left about 3 hours late. Imagine sitting in the ¨holding pen¨ for 8 hours. I feel sorry for the ones who can’t hobble and are at the mercy of those sadists.
These American Airlines actions are in direct violation to 14 CFR Part 382 on non-descrimination for disability in air travel. They are not supposed to base wheelchair transportation on whether or not the passenger is willing to stay in their holding pen, in fact, they are not supposed to seggregate disabled from others, and they are supposed to have a compliaint “ombudsman” available in the airport or on a free phone to resolve all complaints.
American Airlines 9/14/10
CFR 14 Part 382.55(c) states “Carriers shall not restrict the movements of persons with a disability in terminals or require them to remain in a holding area or other location in order to be provided transportation, to receive assistance, or for other purposes, or otherwise mandate separate treatment for persons with a disability, except as permitted or required in this part. “
And CFR 14 Part 382.65 (a) says “(a) Each carrier providing scheduled service shall establish and implement a complaint resolution mechanism, including designating one or more complaints resolution official(s) (CRO) to be available at each airport which the carrier serves.
(1) The carrier shall make a CRO available to any person who complains of alleged violations of this part during all times the carrier is operating at the airport.
(2) The carrier may make the CRO available via telephone, at no cost to the passenger, if the CRO is not present in person at the airport at the time of the complaint.”
I have already complained (this morining in another e-mail), about the “holding pen” at MIA: American Airlines Miami Airport Sept 3, 2010 (overnight flight AA6852 from Seattle arrived about 7:15am. Flight AA935 was scheduled to leave at 11:05am) locator FEUVIJ. Now that I have read the CFR I discovered another violation. While there, I tried to complain to a supervising tcket agent at Concourse D Ticket counter and asked how I could file a complaint about the wheelchair “holding pen” and wheelchair policies. She said the only way to make a complaint was on the internet. I asked if a computer was available and she said I had to use my own. At no time did she say anything about the existance of a CRO (complaints resolution official) or how to contact one. She also insisted that More wheelchair users are processed in MIA than anywhere else in the world.
American Airlines is in direct violation of Part 382 both in refusing to allow a passenger to file a complaint at the time of occurance and for requiring a disabled passenger to sit in a holding pen with no food, no water, no medicine, no bathroom until ˝ to 1 hour before boarding, even if that could be 3-5 or more hours. The only choice I was given if I did not like it, “Then walk.” The idea of being moved a long distance from my destination before letting me know what the destination was, I think, was to insure that I would be compliant to American Airlines control and enforced segrigation of special needs passengers.
I sent the above to AA and so far have received to resplies, both of which had nothing in the body of the message.
kit
