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Mom Says Daughter’s Medication Wasn’t Allowed on United

Is there ever enough room for all of the carry-on bags on a flight? I’ve been on six flights in the past two months and every single one of them has made an announcement during the boarding process that there won’t be enough room for everyone’s carry on bags.

Whether or not this is a natural consequence of airlines’ efforts to squeeze more bodies on board, its a policy that had unfortunate consequences for Jill Levy-Fisch of Tarrytown. She was about to board a plane from Newark to Halifax, Canada on a United Airlines flight (operated by ExpressJet) when she was told that she’d have to check her carry-on bag because there was no more room.

The bag contained medical supplies for her chronically ill daughter. But, Levy-Fisch said, “The gate attendant was belligerent, he was disrespectful, he was nasty and he didn’t even give us a chance to explain anything, so we asked to speak with the flight attendant and we couldn’t get a word out, he just started spewing things. They were horrible.” Levy-Fisch maintains that she was forced to fly without her bag.

In a statement, United Airlines says that when staff learned that the bag contained medication, they told Levy-Fisch that she could remove the medicine and keep it on board. They say they also offered to store the bag in an onboard closet normally reserved for the crew.

“We reached out to her to apologize for her experience, and refunded her ticket as a gesture of goodwill,” the airline said. “We’ve also reached out to our partners at ExpressJet, who operated the flight, and our team in Newark to review the way this situation was handled.”

 

To read more on this story, go to ABC 11

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12 Comments
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CDTraveler July 27, 2018

Seems like several posters here are lucky enough to not to know what "medical supplies for her chronically ill daughter" means. It's not a single bottle of pills that you can pop in you pocket, people. One of my traveling companions has serious, chronic medical problems. In the carry-on bag you'll find 11 types of pills, 2 liquid medications, an inhaler, an EpiPen, and allergen-free snacks to prevent hypoglycemia. Despite needing all that, my companion is brave enough to keep traveling as long as he is able. And gate agents can be real jackasses when he has to explain that the bag can not go in the hold. On one occasion he had to insist on some higher up being called, that person took one look in the bag and told gate agent medical supplies should always travel with the passenger and suddenly they found room for the bag.

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RUAMKZ July 27, 2018

Some agents will mention not to put in car keys, important documents, etc. in their hand carry. Others won't. Sad to say, that it's not consistent. . But people with disabilities get to preboard. And many that are not disabled will try to weasel their way in to board early. You would think, if anything, they would be at the gate early enough to preboard. Also, where was the supervisor, or lead agent, in this case?

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ZJ3000 July 26, 2018

I had a similar incident happen to us on a DL/WS SEA-YEG flight, the GA asked to check in the small wheeled under seat carry-on, aprox 17”Hx12”Wx8”D (39” linear inches) containing only medications, this was before anyone started boarding, while other passengers with larger bags (i.e: large backpacks) were eventually allowed to board. Sadly it is very common for GAs to make travel unnecessarily more difficult than it should be.

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tiharoa July 26, 2018

It happened to me while flying F from Venice to Halifax with Lufthansa. The first leg VCE- MUC was with Air Dolomiti, they took my trolley when I was already on board, I had a label cabin approved but the FA told me I was going to get it back in Munich. It had happened before but I wasn't very happy, I warned the FA that my medications were inside (I'm diabetic). I was not allowed to get anything from my hand luggage. Phone, wallet, cc, camera, laptop and medications I had to leave everything. When we landed in MUC I was told that my trolley was in the hold and I could get it in Montreal. In hindsight I should have called the police as no one I complained to did anything. I travelled to Montreal with only my Passport and boarding pass in my pocket. And I was unwell most of the flight. I won't travel with them again.

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askmrlee July 26, 2018

I've NEVER heard airlines telling pax to remove valuables, medicines, etc when having to gate check items either face to face or via announcements at the last moment, have you?