Originally Posted by
kb9522
This. Surely the passenger who was so willing to allow people known to be rough with checked items to handle his $42k item has it covered under some insurance.
Time to move along... Nothing to see here.
The issue isn't who will pay for the damage - UA has accepted that responsibility. Discussions of insurance are irrelevant in this thread.
The issue is that UA loaned him a crappy wheelchair that broke down and then loaned him a manual wheelchair after their first cheap loaner broke down.
Because he lacks his custom-fitted power chair, his once-in-a-lifetime trip is impaired. He and his friends might say "ruined," but I think that's an overstatement.
UA's failures here include failing to properly train its employees so that they don't damage $42k custom wheelchairs and then failing to loan him an appropriate functional temporary replacement chair. If UA waived enough money around, it could procure an appropriate loaner. Apparently he's not important enough to warrant "whatever it takes" kinda spending. Not surprising from the airline that brought us "broken cashews to save a dime."
I've always assumed that UA employees treat customer stuff with due care, but this incident (and many others) calls that assumption into question.
On top of that, if the baggage handlers can't be trusted to treat customer stuff with due care, then I wonder whether they treat UA's stuff (like $100 million aircraft) with appropriate due care. If you can't competently handle an empty wheelchair and transport it from Paris to Newark without inflicting serious damage, then what unreported damage to UA's planes and other equipment is occurring?
Why does this matter? A couple years back, an airline had an employee or contractor drive a vehicle into a plane and damage it and did not report the incident. Aircraft airworthiness is called into question if damage occurs and is not inspected.