My mother and 83-yr-old disabled grandmother went on vacation late Sep. through early Nov. to Tennessee. They flew from Sacramento, CA to Chicago (O'hare), then from Chicago to Knoxville,TN. During the layover on the trip there, United basically ignored my grandmothers needs and ended up making her walk up a flight of stairs to board the plane, where she ended up falling. On the way back, also at O'hare, she had to walk down the ramp to deboard because they didn't bring her the wheelchair. The complete explanation of events is a bit long, so I'm gonna copy it from my mother's letter that we sent to United:
Quote:
On September 29, 2010, our flight to Chicago went well, and arrived early in Chicago at O'Hare. The wheelchair assistant arrived and was a polite young man. On the way to our gate he received a call instructing him to help with someone else also. We made the detour to a nearby gate where he was to assist with deplaning a wheelchair bound individual. This was quite inconvenient because after being on the long flight my mother did need to use the restroom. After about 15 minutes he returned and took us to the restroom and our gate. We arrived at our gate for the flight to Knoxville an hour and four-five minutes early, where I noticed that we would be boarding the plane outside by steps. I immediately went to the desk to inform the attendant that my mother was unable to walk down the stairs outside or up the stairs to board. He said it would not be a problem and that he would have a wheelchair and a ramp for boarding, so we sat down to wait. When it came time to board, a wheelchair had still not arrived. Everyone was being asked to line up so I went back to the desk but it was a different attendant now. I told him that a wheelchair had not arrived and that there was suppose to be a ramp for boarding my mother. He was very curt with me, said he had not been informed, would send for a wheelchair, and rushed off to board the other passengers. By the time the wheelchair arrived and we were taken down, we were the last ones to be boarded and there was no ramp in sight. The ground crew was rushing and the luggage cart almost left without our carry-on luggage. Again, I had to inform these workers that there was suppose to be a ramp for my mother. They were in such a hurry get the plane off the ground and did not want to take the time for the ramp that they asked my mother, “Are you sure can’t walk up those stairs?” Knowing that we were the last ones to load made my mother embarrassed, pressured, upset to the point that she felt like she had to walk up the stairs on her own. I told her no but they had not brought a ramp yet and we needed to board this flight. The employees made us feel as if it was this or nothing, and that there was nothing else they would do to accommodate us. She started up the stairs slowly but when she arrived on the last two steps she did not have the strength to go any further, her legs gave way, and she fell forward on her knees and hands. She cannot pull herself up, so thankfully a passenger ran up and picked her up. He helped to get her on her feet but her back had been badly jolted and she was shaking and exhausted from the episode. She was not able to walk down the aisle to our assigned seats so the attendant asked the passengers in the front row if they would please exchange seats with us. After setting down, my mother still had difficulty breathing and had to use her inhaler. I asked the flight attendant to make sure that we had a ramp to leave the plane in a wheelchair if were to deplane outside. At Knoxville we did not have the issue of deplaning outside. This was not an isolated incident because we experienced another serious situation on our return flight from Knoxville into Chicago (O'Hare). When I checked in at the desk, I explained to the attendant what had happen previously and to please make sure that we would have what was necessary to leave the plane safely. He apologized for our situation and told us he would inform the flight attendant. Later he took the time to come over to tell us he had spoken our Captain and the flight attendant about our needs for leaving the plane. Before landing in Chicago the attendant told us that there would be a ramp for leaving the plane. After landing the attendant let us know the wheelchair had arrived so we went to the exit. Yes, the wheelchair was down at the bottom but she was told she would have to walk down the ramp because the ramp was not wide enough for wheelchair. I just don’t understand this. Again my mother’s safety was denied. She has difficulty with her back and walking but she had to walk down this steep ramp very slowly while I walked in front of her to try to catch her if she were to fall. |
So far, I have sent an
EECB to United using all of the execs I could find for both United and Continental on their websites and Google Finance. I also forwarded the letter to The Consumerist blog, and filed a complaint with the Aviation Consumer Protection Division. The next step will be going to my already prepared list of emails for local TV stations and Newspapers local to my mother and grandmother.
I stumbled upon this site while looking for places to send the complaint, and I'm glad I found it. I just thought I'd share with everyone here in hopes that if anyone who is disabled is planning to use United, that they know how that airline treats its disabled passengers.
Thanks
Nov 24, 2010, 12:51 AM
United and their disregard for disabled passengers
Similar Threads
Linear Mode
