Story A special needs passenger flying to ILM missd his conx in CLT....Is this the airline failing to do it's job or the family not using common sense by putting a SN person on an aircraft alone.....Airlines have incidents everyday, but to put a passenger that appears to need assistance on a plane during the holidays...I got to say the family failed in it's duties....
Another PR nightmare?
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SparrowHawk
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you call his cell phone and I said no, he doesn't know how to use one
Anybody could have hurt him," Wilson said. "He can't defend himself
and told them that my brother is physically and mentally handicapped
Would anyone in their right mind put a family member on a plane knowing that this person is virtually incapable of handling themself? Did they think of the safety of the other passengers if there were an emergency?
Anybody could have hurt him," Wilson said. "He can't defend himself
and told them that my brother is physically and mentally handicapped
Would anyone in their right mind put a family member on a plane knowing that this person is virtually incapable of handling themself? Did they think of the safety of the other passengers if there were an emergency?
SparrowHawk
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Don't you know that Martian Brain Suckers live in airline web sites and at Security Checkpoints?
US lost me on this one when they started to do the airline PR version of the pee pee dance. They started the dance because there is an ADA based lawsuit lurking here and no one wanted to speak.
Just like the story I heard today on the news,,, a family was so upset that they have three children under the age of two...
they bought two tickets to travel thinking that they could fly.... they when they booked their tickets on the website,
they did not see anything about the "rules" They then say that when they checked in the gate agents did not say anything was
wrong. They boarded the airplane and the f/a alerted them they could not fly in this manner. As there were not enough 02
masks... as they also did not have enough adults for the amount of children... Hey Looser's you could have bought one more
ticket and used a car seat and that would have solved you problem...
they bought two tickets to travel thinking that they could fly.... they when they booked their tickets on the website,
they did not see anything about the "rules" They then say that when they checked in the gate agents did not say anything was
wrong. They boarded the airplane and the f/a alerted them they could not fly in this manner. As there were not enough 02
masks... as they also did not have enough adults for the amount of children... Hey Looser's you could have bought one more
ticket and used a car seat and that would have solved you problem...
jimntx
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I am sure that US Airways has a procedure (as does AA) for Special Needs passengers that is very similar to unaccompanied minors. It involves a form where someone has to sign for the passenger at every "change of control" point--from gate agent to flight attendant to airport escort (if change of planes at some point) to gate agent or responsible adult meeting the last flight. However, there is a charge for this service ($75.00 at AA). Perhaps the family was too cheap to see that the special needs family member was safely transported at each point.
malikie
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There is no PR nightmare here. This is just some stupid idiot who was shipping off a relative they must not have really cared about.
SparrowHawk
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Oh if it were that simple.
Right now the message out there is "Evil Airline loses retard, then refuses to help find him" Now please don't think I believe that statement for a millisecond because I don't.
US Airways is always a day late and a dollar short in this arena. Instead of reacting why not get out in front of this story and paint an equally false picture, "US Airways reunites mentally challenged man with family" Both statements are true, but which one casts US in the best light?
It's called "SPIN" folks. It's how Bush and Obama have stayed in power. It's why Fox and MSNBC are so reviled by different groups. They offer alternative descriptions of the same event. Truth? Who cares? In their business it's ratings.
What actually happened is of no consequence because good PR suspends truth, makes facts irrelevant and permits YOUR version of events to dominate any media coverage. US is NEvER out in front of a story and thus is always backpedaling and looks like a ship of fools in the media which is not the case a great many times.
No, not plenty of blame to go around...why would you put a sn person on a flight who does not know how to use a cell phone or take care of himself? Would you put a five yr old on a flight without a caregiver or without paying an unaccompanied fee ? Of course not! Just because we feel bad for the family does not mean the airlines is responsible...in this case anyway..believe me, there are plenty of instances where they are!
WTF?
Obama still has more than a year left in his first term. Short of impeachment or armed insurrection, there is no way he could be out of power yet.
Why is it that the people with the least to contribute seem to say the most?
signals
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signals
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Which is why Obama will WiN again 😀
SparrowHawk
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Well that's half the blame for sure. This family was not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Where US does get low marks IMO is where they usually get low marks and that's the reaction immediately after an incident like this. For whatever reason, US appeared to be unwilling to help for a period of time. NOT GOOD!
Family Stupidity in placing their challenged loved one in a potentially dangerous situation does not absolve US Airways of all culpability when the person was temporally lost.
I keep asking myself this, "If he was that mentally challenged how the heck did he get on the stinking plane, through security etc etc". Sitting here in the living room I keep thinking, "He should have been denied boarding without a traveling companion". Thought process being that given his limited mental faculties he presents a danger to himself and others unsupervised in the event of anything out of the ordinary happening.
Like i said US Airways needs a more proactive approach in order to effectively manage public perception in these unfortunate situations.
Turn a bad situation into a good response. You need extra staff available to handle irregular situations. US does not staff for irregular operations
We are taking about the flying American public unpredictable difficult circumstances arise all the time
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