Thought I'd run this up the flagpole, from the Elliott travel blog

[Dont call me Shirley]

Check this out. I await the calm , measured response these pages are so famous for.

http://www.elliott.org/blog/you-might-thin...-is-a-bit-bold/

“You might think that this request is a bit boldâ€￾.....

I think the request for for two TLV tickets is over-reaching, but shouldn't he get something?

 

[SS255]

2 $175 vouchers does seem a bit chintzy for the service which he provided. While he did "volunteer" his services, an in-flight medical emergency is not exactly a call that any doctor with integrity would dismiss.

I think that US should have preemptively upgraded Dr. & Mrs. Pomerantz to Envoy for their return flight (and not charged them the co-pay ). Had they done that, I don't think they would have complained to Customer Relations.

They are obviously back now, so perhaps a R/T upgrade to Envoy for their TLV flight would be an appropriate gesture?

As a side note.....I believe that some of the airlines offer incentives for doctors to announce themselves to the flight crew, or register as doctors in their profile. I remember speaking to a doctor once who does this with one of the other domestic airlines -- I think it was DL, but I'm not sure.

 

[US1YFARE]

I think he deserves 2 tickets in BF on CO to TLV. That was a plane rediculus response by those morons in Tempe.

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

The problem is the Good Doctor comes across as EXPECTING something.

Now maybe it's ust my Mennonite/Baptist Background but calling attention to your good works to me is offensive.

Good point, indeed, Bob. The USD 175 do seem rather cheap, even from the "carrier of cheap", but, as I said, two tickets to TLV is overreaching. The idea of a free club membership, as was suggest by a commenter on the Ellott, blog is not a bad one.

How much would a diversion to SNN have cost?

 

[freedom]

i know! why don't we save money by having the employees start a pool of their OWN money in order to properly thank the doctor for his services rendered inflight !( sorry i can't contribute anything due to my drinking problem )

p.s our company is poor .... just in case any of you didn't know that ...

 

[US1YFARE]

The problem is the Good Doctor comes across as EXPECTING something.

Now maybe it's ust my Mennonite/Baptist Background but calling attention to your good works to me is offensive.

Why? Why is it offensive? He could have elected to not get involved, but for whatever reason he did. He deserves to be fairly compensated due to the fact that he ruined the start of his lovely vacation getaway by helping the woman with the medical issue, and also saving US and US's customers from inconvenience and expense. I'll bet you this because I've seen it many times--if he committed malpractice, the same people involved, without blinking an eye, would be pointing at the good doctor. Good for him. If you don't speak up for yourself, no one else will. US continues to show its true colors.

but, as I said, two tickets to TLV is overreaching. The idea of a free club membership, as was suggest by a commenter on the Ellott, blog is not a bad one.

How much would a diversion to SNN have cost?

I bet it costs more than a crappy US club membership or the two TLV tickets he asked for.

 

[2BorNot2B]

I think the good Doctor deserves the tickets and then some! By virtue of the PA request, the Crew, as representatives of the airline, were asking for professional medical assistance. The Doctor responded, much as a Doctor on-call for a Medical facility would. It would be different had the Doctor observed a situation and on his own, offered assistance.

The value of the requested tickets are minimal as compared to the many thousands of dollars the good Doctor saved the airline.

The big problem, however, is the precedence this would set. I can just see several Doctors bidding with the Crew about help with a dying passenger! "I've got a $1000 offer ... who will help us for $900 ???? ". Well, you get the picture!

Tough call, this one! :unsure:

2b

 

[US1YFARE]

expecting compensation is at minimum bad form.

I'd say bad form is the fact that no one from US called this guy to thank him before he wrote the letter. A message should have been waiting for him when he returned from his vacation.

 

[necigrad]

He could have elected to not get involved, but for whatever reason he did.

And therein is the issue. I'm almost certain that he is legally obligated to respond, and thus did not "volunteer". I generally suck at looking up laws, but I'm like 99% positive that were he to not get involved, and could be proven to have been aware of the situation, he would be negligant. When you're a licensed medical professional the laws are different.

 

[US1YFARE]

Not completely true, the laws vary state to state.


I also agree that just from a cost standpoint US should have gotten in front of this and had a thank you in his mailbox when he returned

Thus, the Good Samaritan laws which are in place to encourage a physician to render medical treatment when there is no duty to act without being held to the same standard as those physicians in an existing typical physician-patient relationship.

 

[hp_fa]

My post is awaiting moderation, but I will share it here.

The TLV tickets are way too much and the doctor was exceedingly tacky to ask for that much compensation.

Let’s flip this around for a minute. Let’s assume for a minute that the doctor did not volunteer to assist and that the decision was made to divert to Dublin, Glasgow or London. A diversion would take a few hours at least, between dealing with the immediate medical issue, re-fueling, filing a new flight plan and hoping that in the meantime the crew didn’t “time outâ€￾, especially if there had been any departure delay. What would the doctor have been writing had he, at a minimum, been delayed? His trip would have been ruined for the first day or so and he doesn’t seem the type to have held back on a complaint letter if that had been the case.

The doctor was tacky to ask for compensation. The airline, on receiving the flight attendants irregularity and medical reports should have pro-actively and quietly offered something in the range of a $500.00 voucher. That would have been appropriate and would have put a much better spin on the who issue.

 

[US1YFARE]

My post is awaiting moderation, but I will share it here.

After returning from his trip with NO acknowledgement of his good deed by the company, I don't blame him for being annoyed. Like another poster mentioned, they could have upgraded him to Envoy on the return trip. A little bit of gratitude goes a long way. To project how he would have acted outside of the actual facts, is unfair.

 

[hp_fa]

After returning from his trip with NO acknowledgement of his good deed by the company, I don't blame him for being annoyed. Like another poster mentioned, they could have upgraded him to Envoy on the return trip. A little bit of gratitude goes a long way. To project how he would have acted outside of the actual facts, is unfair.

He volunteered. Last I knew volunteering was not something for which compensation was expected. Now if I was in charge of the company, which many folks probably celebrate that I am not, I would have been proactive and would have made a much better gesture to the doctor along with a hand-written thank you card. I fail to see any basis for being annoyed if had truly volunteered.

As for it being unfair to speculate what he might have done if the flight had made a medical diversion I point to his letter, in which he discussed his loss of four of hours rest and being the next day until he was rested. The fact is that he volunteered to help, felt he had a "duty" to help and complained about a lack of compensation. I believe that had the plane diverted and been further delayed, which it would have been, that it is reasonable to infer he would have complained about that instead. I fail to understand his sense of entitlement when he volunteered because he felt he had a duty to do so.

Just so it isn't lost in the sauce, I think the company dropped the ball. But since when are volunteers entitled to expect compensation?

 

[tadjr]

I'm feeling conflicted on this one. On the one hand I see where the good doctor getting involved helped US and the other customers on board the flight, but if the same thing had happened in a store or restaurant would the doctor have EXPECTED the company to provide him with "something"? Free meals every week for a year, a voucher for store goods, 52" flat screen with surround sound? Once again the airlines have a different standard applied to them, imo.

On the other hand, the bad press is once again a black eye to US. Do we take the Spirit attitude and say ".... the customer, they'll be back when we're the cheapest" or do we attempt to look appreciative without the bean counters having a hissy?

I would hope that the company would come up with some policy for C/A to handle issues like this using a little thought and not having the issue dumped on the lowest man on the totem poles desk and hope it works out. The company really ought to have offered "something" to the customer before he had returned from his trip. That should be standard company policy with the offer dependent on the circumstances. A hundred dollar voucher for a doctor checking on someone on a domestic flight with no diversion or real medical skills needed for the situation up to an Intl flight, no diversion, $1000 voucher. Any time a report is filed it should go immediately to C/A (someone with a title) and it should be handled. If C/A is handled with the same thought process as the atos (your name appears on the waiver list, why? military, strollers, qik errors? any more questions oh brilliant ones?) theres really no surprise in my mind the way things get handled sometimes. A clear, concise policy handled by "a person with a title" should be the way to go in situations like this.

I cant really blame the flight crew either for their offer of a bottle of champagne, even though I'm sure they didnt know the good dr didnt drink when it was offered. To say it was a slap in the face from them is a slap in the face TO them. Since they dont have a galley full of vouchers and probably thought their gesture was a good start it wasnt as if they just thumbed their noses at him. They at least acknowledged his assistance with what little means they had available to them. I'm sure they werent going to take up a collection to offer him as he deplaned (although maybe we can start doing that next time this happens. Your attention please, the doctor who is assisting your sick traveling companion requests monetary compensation before he continues. Get out your wallets to pay him off or we'll have to divert.)

Would also be curious if the doctor has any intention of persuing compensation from the actual patients involved or is just looking to score the TLV tickets?

 

[Awa Contract]

If the good Dr. thinks he is so entitled he need to bill the dummy that mixed drugs and alcohol.