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AAwful Flight
Cheap Charlie · August 4, 1999

Let's take a look at a large and growing problem -- unruly, uncaring and compassionless flight attendants who seem to hate their jobs and dislike the very people whom they are hired to attend. Every member of the flying public can relate a story about terse, uncaring and impersonal treatment at the hands of flight attendants, ticketing and gate personnel. At times even the best get testy, and with record passenger loads, often passengers don't even get lip service.

Last week, I learned that, at least in one case on American Airlines, crew contempt for their passengers was exhibited even to those crippled by injury and brought to the plane in a wheelchair.

Let me state before I get into the story, that I am embarrassed by this tale. I am part of the travel industry. I have worked tirelessly to promote excellence in travel and have scores of friends who work diligently as pilots or flight attendants every day to provide as much passenger service as possible. Sadly, some of their fellow flight attendants don't share their professionalism.

A friend of mine purchased highly discounted tickets through Iberia Airlines, a new codesharing partner of American Airlines, for him and his wife to fly from San Francisco to Barcelona, Spain and return. In Spain he broke his ankle and had other injuries when he was hit by a rampaging bull during the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona. He had to return to the U.S. with a special leg cast.

While he was in the hospital on IVs, I assisted his wife in changing the dates of their flights so that he could return home earlier than planned. All went well. The records were annotated with a notice of his condition and his need for wheelchair assistance.

Before his departure, I spoke with one of the Iberian Airline supervisors about his condition and asked that they put a note in the passenger record that he would need some consideration for extra leg space. And, if possible, I asked that he might be upgraded on a space-available basis. This is all normal airline procedure when someone is injured.

He arrived at the airport in an ambulance. The Iberian Airlines personnel did everything to help make him comfortable, first on a small commuter flight and then on the flight from Barcelona to JFK. Though they did not upgrade him, they made sure that there was room to extend his injured leg. My friend, incidentally, is 6 foot 6 inches tall.

In New York at JFK, on July 16th, his problems began when he was faced with an American Airlines crew and gate personnel for AA flight 65. Though his condition was obvious -- stitches, scabs and leg cast -- and his situation has been noted in his passenger record, the American Airlines crew chose to do nothing to assist him.

He was assigned to the worst possible seat -- a middle seat, against the rear bulkhead, that did not recline. Every seat in tourist class was filled. Several times during the boarding process the he and his wife pleaded for help in being moved to a seat with more space.

Finally, when all were boarded, the only suggestion that the flight attendant offered was to get off the plane.

They asked whether there was room in business class or first class into which a full-fare passenger might be upgraded to free up the space beside him. My friend and his wife didn't ask for an upgrade for themselves, they asked for an upgrade for someone else.

Eventually, the purser came to the back of the plane and told him that his injury didn't justify any special treatment. Since he had been offered the option of disembarking, she would not help in any way.

He suffered through the transcontinental flight. During the flight, the flight attendants in the rear galley spent their time together complaining, in unhushed voices, about the passengers. Not once did the crew offer a smile, friendly gesture or any expression of compassion. In my friend's words, "they could have been moving a duffel bag."

In San Francisco, a first-class passenger who had been on the same flight noted my friend's condition and overheard his discussions about the flight with his wife. This passenger told them that there were three empty seats in first class. She, as a frequent traveler, was amazed that the flight attendants didn't upgrade someone to leave him some additional space.

I am amazed as well.

After a five-hour ordeal flying across the country, my friend learned that his pain and discomfort was absolutely and easily preventable. All the American Airlines crew needed to do was think compassionately and bump one person up a class. What became a torturous experience could have been a positive one. Positive for the business-class passenger who might have been upgraded to first class and the tourist-class passenger who might have been bumped up to business, as well as for my friend who could have had a bit more space for his leg.

By doing nothing the crew served no one well. Common sense and common decency cry out for some basic consideration of the seriously injured and disabled. In Europe they still treat people with consideration while here at home the injured are treated like left luggage.

Shame on you, American Airlines.

Charlie Leocha is the Boston-based author of Travel Rights: Know the Rules of the Road and the Air Before You Go. Cheap Charlie appears every Monday on this site. E-mail him at cheapch@aol.com or access his Web site.