Two Disabled Women (Mother and Daughter) Thrown Off Their Flight

My dear wonderful mother was the only caregiver I had. She worked to help support me for the past 28 years, I have Multiple Sclerosis, until she got diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. So our only choice was to move to California to live with my only sister so she could take care of our needs. We lived there for five years until last year when my mother’s doctor told us she’s in her last stage of Alzheimer’s and has about a year to live. We decided to move back to Delaware where we lived since 1960, a place she never forgot even with her advanced Alzheimer’s. She keeps mentioning Delaware daily, wanting to come back. She forgot she has two sons but never her beloved Delaware.

It was not an easy decision moving back and forth across the country, moving our furniture and personal medical equipment although we didn’t have as many things to move back as we had when we moved to CA because while in CA we had a major house fire and lost most of my life’s work as a photographer. So we decided to come back to where my father is buried and bought a plot for her so she can be buried next to him and where her parents and brother are buried next to each other.

When we got to the plane at San Diego airport to board, mom and I were taken off a US Airways flight on August 28, 2015, because my mother was considered a danger to passengers. My mother is 91 years old and has Alzheimer’s disease. I have Multiple Sclerosis and I am quadriplegic. We were traveling with an aide. When the airline pre-boarded mom she became anxious as she was left alone with the aide but without me who’s face is familiar to her although I told them to keep us together and let us board together because she gets anxious when she’s without me but they ignored me. When they boarded her without me she kept asking for me and instead of taking her to me, the agents made her wait, which increased her anxiety. Alzheimer’s patients need familiarity. Instead of showing any compassion, they removed my mother, me, and the aide off the flight. Two disabled women in the airport at 12 a.m. looking for a place to sleep.

Afterwards, they rebooked us for a flight the following morning. We were told we would have to find our own overnight accommodations. Denied boarding is not the airline’s problem so they are not liable. The next morning when they boarded us, they seated all of us in economy ignoring my medical need to have my feet elevated because it causes me circulation problems and swelling. They completely ignored the first class ticket I bought. I spent the whole trip in pain, my knees kept hitting the seat in front of me because of the little space in economy class, calling the steward every 30 minutes to help move my back forward to relieve my back pain. I spent the next three weeks with back and shoulder pain ending up in the hospital with kidney infection.

Then I was told by a friend to send my complaint to our Department of Transportation (DOT) whom I thought their job was to fight for the rights of people with disabilities. So I did and I waited for months only to receive a letter of denial saying I really didn’t have a strong case if I was only complaining about their placing me in economy instead of the first class ticket I bought which I completely agree with them if that was what I was complaining about. So I resubmitted my case explaining in detail something private I was too embarrassed to publicly talk about. During the long flight, my feet were never raised and seat was so tight I was squeezing the catheter for hours making the urine back up causing me a kidney infection which caused me to end up in the hospital for a few days.

It’s time we people with special needs stand up for our rights in air travel by demanding that all major airports in the US have an office addressing the needs of people with special needs, treat them with dignity, have experienced people to address their needs, not treat them and transport them like a piece of luggage.

This airline is beyond shameful in its treatment of minorities. It borders on criminal. They created a situation that escalated out of control, then refused to take any responsibility for the consequences. Additionally, they downgraded me and did not refund me the difference right away. I was denied by DOT twice once when I sent my complaint they sent me a letter explaining not being seated in first is not a strong enough reason to complain about completely ignoring my medical needs is the reason and their ignoring my needs ended me in the hospital. It’s not as if I was asking them for a free first class seating. I paid for first class and told them my situation when I made the reservation. Why did they take my money knowing my needs if they where unable to accommodate me?