kit kit
Sep 16, 10, 11:37 pm
My particulars: American Airlines Miami Airport Sept 3, 2010 (overnight flight AA6852 from Seattle arrived about 7:15am. Flight AA935 was scheduled to leave at 11:05am)
I had a 4 hour lay-over in Miami. Plenty of time for one last big American breakfast to make up for no dinner last night. However, American Airlines has the worst wheelchair service program in the world!
a. Different Wheel chair pushers or ¨drivers¨for incoming and outgoing flights.
b. Nobody can leave the arrival gate until all special needs people are gathered together at the top of the ramp.
c. All special needs people MUST go to American Airlines holding area and wait there (no bathrooms, no food or water) until ½ - 1 hour before flight departure, when they will be escorted to their next departure gate.
d. NO Exceptions!
I was off the plane near the front, waited 45 minutes until the only other wheelchair passenger was off, then we went 20 feet to the elevator where we separated. My driver refused to stop at any of the Departure Boards to find my departure gate. He said they were not American Airlines. I knew my departure was Concorse E, we arrived at F, he took me through the terminal, outside, around the parking lot to D then to the other end of D to the ¨holding pen.¨ He said the man there would take care of me. I waited 20 minutes then approached him. He handed me my boarding pass with E7 written on it. I asked when I would go to E-7 he said not until ½ to 1 hour before departure. I had to wait there almost 3 hours. I said I must eat before I can take my medicine. He said, ¨So, walk.¨ When I complained I couldn´t he just shrugged and turned away. I asked a supervisor at the check-in counter how to file a complaint about the wheelchair holding pen. She said the only way to do it is on-line. I asked if they had a computer to use and she said I had to use my own. She added, Miami handles more handicapped than anywhere else in the world (American Airlines world, anyway) and their system works, no problems. Go sit down and she’d come see me sometime.
I waited a few minutes, she never came and I needed my heart medicine. I started walking, sitting, walking, sitting after I got somebody to point the way to Concourse E. Turns out I had to follow my path back to where the driver had said the Departure Board was not American. Of course it was. Where we went outside, was the entrance to Concourse E. He could have left me off almost 2 hours earlier only a few gates away from my destination, if American Airlines had allowed him to. Instead I had to walk back with my heart straining from both lack of medicine and over exercise. I got food, medicine and to my gate, where I discovered the flight was delayed. Actually it left about 3 hours late. Imagine sitting in the ¨holding pen¨ for 8 hours. I feel sorry for the ones who can’t hobble and are at the mercy of those sadists.
These American Airlines actions are in direct violation to 14 CFR Part 382 on non-descrimination for disability in air travel.
I had a 4 hour lay-over in Miami. Plenty of time for one last big American breakfast to make up for no dinner last night. However, American Airlines has the worst wheelchair service program in the world!
a. Different Wheel chair pushers or ¨drivers¨for incoming and outgoing flights.
b. Nobody can leave the arrival gate until all special needs people are gathered together at the top of the ramp.
c. All special needs people MUST go to American Airlines holding area and wait there (no bathrooms, no food or water) until ½ - 1 hour before flight departure, when they will be escorted to their next departure gate.
d. NO Exceptions!
I was off the plane near the front, waited 45 minutes until the only other wheelchair passenger was off, then we went 20 feet to the elevator where we separated. My driver refused to stop at any of the Departure Boards to find my departure gate. He said they were not American Airlines. I knew my departure was Concorse E, we arrived at F, he took me through the terminal, outside, around the parking lot to D then to the other end of D to the ¨holding pen.¨ He said the man there would take care of me. I waited 20 minutes then approached him. He handed me my boarding pass with E7 written on it. I asked when I would go to E-7 he said not until ½ to 1 hour before departure. I had to wait there almost 3 hours. I said I must eat before I can take my medicine. He said, ¨So, walk.¨ When I complained I couldn´t he just shrugged and turned away. I asked a supervisor at the check-in counter how to file a complaint about the wheelchair holding pen. She said the only way to do it is on-line. I asked if they had a computer to use and she said I had to use my own. She added, Miami handles more handicapped than anywhere else in the world (American Airlines world, anyway) and their system works, no problems. Go sit down and she’d come see me sometime.
I waited a few minutes, she never came and I needed my heart medicine. I started walking, sitting, walking, sitting after I got somebody to point the way to Concourse E. Turns out I had to follow my path back to where the driver had said the Departure Board was not American. Of course it was. Where we went outside, was the entrance to Concourse E. He could have left me off almost 2 hours earlier only a few gates away from my destination, if American Airlines had allowed him to. Instead I had to walk back with my heart straining from both lack of medicine and over exercise. I got food, medicine and to my gate, where I discovered the flight was delayed. Actually it left about 3 hours late. Imagine sitting in the ¨holding pen¨ for 8 hours. I feel sorry for the ones who can’t hobble and are at the mercy of those sadists.
These American Airlines actions are in direct violation to 14 CFR Part 382 on non-descrimination for disability in air travel.