WCHR Bound Woman Left Unattended for Hours?

tadjr

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Aug 19, 2002
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Hard to tell exactly what happened from the short blurb. Did she fly in on Express and get wheeled in a hallway and left otherwise she should have been visible in the jetway or in the terminal? Anyone in LAS know?
Reserving judgement until more of the facts are released.
 
Am I the only one who thinks she could have wheeled herself and get someones attention.

I'm still not surprise that US would screwup another special pax connection. Will they ban this too?

But seriously unless she is a Quadrapaligic she should have raised hell until someone did something. Was there a boot on the wheel? At what point when 3 hours pass do you call somebody. A lot of unanswered questions?
 
Update number 1

Update number 2 with timeline

She can call her daughter at 3am, but doesnt know 911? If someone left me for more than a little while, thats who I'd be calling. Cant wait to hear the rest of the story.

1. Typical typo in the timeline from Tempe (nice alliteration, huh?). The way this is worded, Prospect is the one who was transported into the airport, not the customer: "Prospect (a contract vendor with US Airways) arrived before 11:50 PM to assist the passenger with a wheelchair and was transported into the terminal via an elevator." Shouldn't that say "...and SHE was transported into the terminal..." or something like that? Nice.

2. Grammar notwithstanding, if that's true, this woman's story doesn't add up.

3. What if this had occurred in PHL or CLT? What sort of "timeline" would US be able to produce? None, since at last check US didn't use Prospect in any of the East hubs, and Tempe didn't think it was necessary to track this sort of stuff beyond the scope of Prospect's operations in PHX and LAS.

Maybe a big fat fine from the DOT will make them think beyond the edge of the desert.
 
Its not just the desert that tracks assists. In TPA, the skycaps have a sheet at the counter and gate that logs assists and the time they are pickedup/ dropped off along with the skycap that assisted them. Not sure if its just a local CYA thing or what.
 
Update number 1

Update number 2 with timeline

She can call her daughter at 3am, but doesnt know 911? If someone left me for more than a little while, thats who I'd be calling. Cant wait to hear the rest of the story.
the rest of the story matters little. actually, it doesn't matter at all.
to impose what you believe this woman should have done (call 911 instead of her daughter) into the story means absolutely nothing. nada. zilch.
that cnn has picked up this story and negatively sensationalized usairways is what ultimately matters. and, team IMPOtempe's now predictable anti-customer "time table"response is as disgraceful as the management team in charge.
 
I heard this news today and needed to try and find out the whole story too. Being an Ex Us Airways Flight Attendant the part that left me with the Biggest Problem was that the News Reports were saying she was left on the TARMAC.... I couldn't grasp that because LAS has JetBridges available... Guess the Daughter got that part wrong. I mean saying she was left out on the Tarmac Cold was really freaking me out !!! In Chicago with American Eagle we have a Company that does all our WheelChair Passengers Service... Let me just say that They are not THAT DEPENDABLE.... I can't count how many times I've had passengers with tight connections in ORD and sure enough Prospect is NO WHERE to be found. So, the Tarmac part was really making me wonder. Can't wait to hear the Real Story on this one... I'm sure there is MORE to the Story
 
hmmm i can feel a lawsuit coming.... don't ask me how i know this ..... but i can just tell....
 
Just one more thought.... She was in VEGAS.... the airport has SLOT MACHINES !!!!! Anyone want to go with me on this thought process? She probably wheeled herself over for a couple of tries on the slot machine and when they came to get her she was nowhere to be found.... Figuring it was another "Miracle Flight" they just figured she walked away !!!!! :rolleyes:
 
I'd have to tlk to the graveyarders, but a few things don't add up. First off, Prospect (as mentioned the W/C contractor) has to scan into the gate. Now, granted this was an RJ, and assuming it was not a jetway board, they weren't at the podium, I'm pretty sure they still need to scan in, and the Channel 8 link cites the woman being picked up. Second, assuming most of the graveyarders are the same since I left graves not too long ago, they would probably say "it's not my job", but they would also tell the supervisor. Fourth, we don't deplane disabled passengers without Prospect being there. The aisle chairs are too uncomfortable. Fifth, TWELVE HOURS?!?!?!?!? You can NOT not be seen at McCarran for 12 hours. It's impossible (unless you TRY to hide).

Here's what I think happened. The woman was deplaned. She was brought upstairs (a long way to the elevator from some gates). Prospect then asked her where to go and she probably made some comment about missing her flight nd having a lot of time to kill so asked or agreed to the slots or a quiet spot for the night.
 
Its not just the desert that tracks assists. In TPA, the skycaps have a sheet at the counter and gate that logs assists and the time they are pickedup/ dropped off along with the skycap that assisted them. Not sure if its just a local CYA thing or what.

I've been out of this loop since this summer, and admit I may not have the most up-to-date info on this subject, but I know for a fact that --procedurally speaking -- Tempe made the decision to discontinue the paper assist logs used in East stations and to only keep the Prospect PDA system in PHX and LAS. In other words, in the official procedure manual, housed somewhere in the bowels of the Sandcastle, there is no requirement to document this stuff beyond what is done using technology by Prospect personnel in PHX and LAS. Whatever paper systems exist are strictly CYA local procedures.