United Airlines mistreats disabled passengers!

[mijan]

Everyone, if you have ANY sense of human decency, any sense of treating people properly, and know that the American Disabilities Act DOES indeed apply to airlines (just like any other business), then READ THIS experience of a young disabled woman who flew with them recently.  Apparently, as far as they're concerned, only old people can be disabled, and they can treat disabled people like shit. 

Read the whole thing.  Top to bottom.  It will infuriate you.  It SHOULD infuriate you! 

And then, re-post this everywhere.  Cross post.  Re-post.  Tweet it.  Post it to Facebook.  Post to Dreamwidth.  Spam your families' e-mail groups.  Make sure nobody you know EVER flies on United Airlines ever again.  I certainly won't.

Every single one of us, young or old, could become disabled at any time.  A traffic accident, a sports injury, a slip and fall, a disabling illness - you never know what will happen tomorrow.  That could be you in that woman's shoes, being treated horribly.  That could be your mother, brother, daughter, best friend.  Stand up for what's right, and make sure that United Airlines knows just how outraged we all are.  Even if they're the cheapest flight, book with someone else.  Send a letter to United Airlines expressing your displeasure.  Let them know what you think of their "policy" about disabled passengers.

Start by re-posting now.

Comments

[ruisseau.livejournal.com]

Kind of stuck with them for my next trip since canceling an Orbitz reservation is costly. Next time, though, they don't get my money.

[leianora.livejournal.com]

Ironically, this is going to be the third letter I've written to that particular airline. One for me, and two for other people. I left a comment on her post, and am glad you passed this on from your journal. I plan to do the same, once I figure out how. I hope this got posted all over dreamwidth, facebook, myspace, here, and any and all other social networking sites. Who knows? Maybe that bitch supervisor saw it? :D

[liamgolucky.livejournal.com]

Dude, I swear I think I'm flying UA to San Fran for my trip to Japan this winter and I'm straight up ready to call and throw a fit.

[lunalovegoddess.livejournal.com]

"Every single one of us, young or old, could become disabled at any time." Like my cousin's baby, for example, who was born with a heart defect and developed complications due to lack of oxygen to her brain during surgery. Because of their insurance, she has to wait two months for her special wheelchair.

*is ripshit about this "policy"*

[eldritchhorrors.livejournal.com]

Now I feel like shit.

I just flew United yesterday.

:(

[anruiukimi.livejournal.com]

I'm already on the boycotting United list due to previous shit done to friends and acquaintences, but I'm saddened to see that they haven't changed any. :(

[sphynxle.livejournal.com]

http://twitter.com/UnitedAirlines/status/12057305131

It'll be interesting to see if they follow up with that.

[eerisedda.livejournal.com]

That is appalling. I left her a comment and posted the link on my Facebook. I will never ride United Airlines again. Ever.

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

It's fascinating how much treatment can vary - I have arthritis in my spine and when I was flying between the US and the UK a lot it was mostly US Airways or British Air (or occasionally Delta, who had a deal with one or the other of those two) and even though I don't have a disability placard of any kind, people have always been extremely willing to be helpful - letting me board early so I can get settled in before it gets cramped (I take a special back rest sort of thing with me, and it's much easier to get it in place properly without anyone else in the row) and just generally giving me far less 'you don't LOOK disabled' rubbish than I'm always prepared for.

(I admit, I have been told by flight attendants that they're not supposed to put people's baggage up for them, as a health and safety thing, but in lieu of that they've always been very helpful about locating a spot for it to go and if necessary asking another passenger if they'll help - though usually someone does notice and steps in.) (The health and safety thing MAY be a British thing - they have some fairly strict laws about that sort of thing.)

My mom HAS a placard, though, and a slight limp from a badly broken leg, and SHE's gotten more rubbish treatment than I have. It's all very bizarre.

(As a result, in part when I am feeling better - my arthritis is the type that flares up and when it's not flaring I'm pretty close to 'normal' - I try very hard to help out other people because people help me.)

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

Can't edit, so comment to add - I've just come across this being discussed on a knitting forum, and some of the responses are just ASTOUNDING.

The sweeping generalizations about what disabled people 'should' and 'shouldn't' do - apparently if you have any kind of trouble lifting things at all you shouldn't expect to carry on anything larger than a 'small purse' and even that you might have to gate check.

One of my medications is a painkiller. It isn't even a particularly exciting painkiller, but it has a street value because people buy it to get high. Likewise, one of my migraine medications. THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL I AM CHECKING EITHER OF THOSE. Things DO get stolen all the time from checked baggage, and not only do I not want to be contributing to the drug trade - it's a gigantic PITA to get prescriptions reissued if you're not at home with your regular doctor due to those lovely 'drug seekers' who mean that anyone calling up about a prescription for anything remotely interesting is assumed to be either an addict or a drug dealer.

In theory, I could decant my medications into plastic baggies, thus reducing the room they take up in my carry on - but wait, then I'm transporting baggies of random pills around, and I'm sure the TSA and customs are going to LOVE that one. So a collection of prescription bottles with labels it is. (I admit to taking this paranoid to extremes - when I would go out with Neph, who had injectable painkillers and oral morphine with him at all times due to extreme spinal pain, I actually made his GP write me a note stating that as his care provider, I would be in possession of his prescriptions and any needles or other supplies necessary to administer them. And that was in the case that we used to carry stuff around when we went out Just In Case.)

And that's not even touching on the things that might be necessary for someone who is disabled who may well be stranded overnight without luggage, or have their checked luggage lost - braces, medical equipment, etc.

(Plus, it's often not simply a case of lifting something into the overhead compartment - I always pack light enough that I CAN lift my case. It's the lifting it and then having to move it around or wiggle it to get it into an already packed space, or find that someone else has moved it to a different place that you can't reach comfortably...)

Just. GAH. Apparently the idea that people with disabilities shouldn't actually do ANYTHING is alive and well.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

I absolutely recognize that certain disabling conditions can flare up and subside, such that on any given day a person might be almost completely able-bodied, but on other days, almost unable to move. Believe me, I've been getting a first-hand lesson in that lately.

And yeah, that concept that disabled must automatically mean that a person is completely incapable is infuriating. Just because a person can walk five steps from a car to a wheelchair doesn't mean that person can walk all the way across an airport terminal. The more you irritate certain problems, the worse they get.

And to your comment below about the need for medical equipment on-hand... YES. Some people can do with a small supply of medications in a purse or small bag. All my meds can be kept in a simple pill box. But for people who need real equipment... how on earth can people suggest that they leave those things in checked baggage? Bags get LOST, and when those supplies are a person's lifeline, you don't let them out of your sight!

People can be so stupid.

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

My carry-on packing changed dramatically the one time I was flying home from the UK and ended up changing flights 5 times due to weather closing most of the airports on the east coast - I never actually got ON most of those planes, but of course my checked baggage was tagged for them, so by the time *I* actually got on a plane, my checked luggage was lord alone knew where. I got it back about four days after I got home.

Now, all of my prescription meds go with me in the carry on, in their prescription bottles, and I have a little pill case with the stuff I might need on the trip in an outside pocket. (I actually pack my carry on such that I can partially unpack it on the plane - normally I have a smaller bag tucked inside that has my laptop, a book or magazine, any other in-travel stuff, and then when I get on the plane I take that out and put my large bag in the overhead compartment - sometimes with help - and then the smaller bag is small enough to go under the seat in front of me and still leave me some leg room.)

(Which is another thing - people are all 'put it under the seat in front of you' which, okay - assuming it will fit and there's a seat in front of you to put it under, you then have NO leg room at all because there's approximately 8 inches between the front of your seat and the back of the seat in front of you. If I can't stick my feet into the space under the seat to stretch my legs out a bit and change positions, by the end of a flight my hips and lower back might be so stiff I might have difficulty walking!)

Just. ARGH.

And then there's the inherent discrimination of saying that people who are disabled shouldn't expect to be able to carry any form of entertainment or work with them in addition to the medically necessary items - it's entirely reasonable for an able bodied person to want to bring a laptop on board, for example, but apparently if you're disabled you should just be happy that you and your medically necessary items are getting some space, never mind having room for a book or a laptop. BE GLAD WE'RE LETTING YOU FLY AT ALL, CRIPPLE!

Ahem. I may be somewhat irate as a combination of the debate on the knitting forum and my current migraine.

[rubymiene.livejournal.com]

You know, I am not at all surprised if workplace safety or union rules prohibited flight attendants from lifting bags, though obviously, they could have handled it a lot better in terms of tone and other assistance.

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

In the massive debate going on about this on the knitting forum, I just suggested that if that is in fact the case (which does seem reasonable) then perhaps there should be some kind of system in place where someone who IS able to lift the bags (like a baggage handler) can be called up to assist when necessary. (Perhaps you'd need to provide some kind of advanced notice when you check in, so they'd know to have someone spare to do that, whatever.)

Like you said, it's the WAY it's being handled in this (and other cases people are mentioning) that's just astounding.

(To say nothing of the attitude of many people, who keep insisting that it must be possible to carry "only what you need" in a small purse if you can't get something into the overhead compartment. So apparently if you need to carry any kind of medical equipment you're SOL unless you want to trust it to the checked baggage system. HAH.)

[georgeodowd.livejournal.com]

I read it from top to bottom, and boy do I feel pain for that poor girl. I would really like to see someone (with the money and social power) sue United over that. There is just no excuse.
I can understand a flight attendant refusing to put heavy bags in overhead herself, but she could so easily have walked around the cabin until she found someone willing to help. I get a sneaking hunch that the 'coloured hair' referred to in the letter had a lot to do with Rachel D's treatment, and frankly, that really pisses me off. As if somehow expressing yourself through non-natural hair colour means that you are some delinquent who either deserves to be disabled or are just playing at it. Oy...
Well, rest assured I will never fly United again, because I don't fly at all. I have serious issues with air travel in general. :P