KDHawaii777

Can you believe this? Isn't there something we do about it?




Call Placed at: Thu Apr 08 09:24:24 HST 2004
Number Called: (800) 241-4141
thank you .. dialing .. ca 3209 (F) (ca here ... if recording would you like complete msg typed or hold for specific department or live rep q) ga

(recorded message)(one moment pls)(and I will relay complete message)

live rep ga
(one moment pls)(ca here i m sorry but at this time there is no option for a live rep wouldyou like a special department or wouldyou like me to type the complete messaage now q ga)

any dept would be fine. i just want to talk to someone. thanks ga

(one moment pls)(recorded message)(one moment pls)(and I will relay complete message)(connecting to a delta representative )ringing 1 ...2...3...4...(recorded message)(one moment pls)(and I will relay complete message)your call will be answered as soon as a representative becomes avaialble (holding) (recorded message)(one moment pls)(and I will relay complete message) (holding) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (still holding for a live rep one moment please ) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (female) delta airlines my name sandy kay how may i help you q ga
yes, i will be flying from Honolulu to Frankfurt this summer. I need to know if there will be inflight movies? if so, will they provide a portable DVD for the deaf passenger so they can watch the movie with subtitled? ga

i am domestic agent and i will have to transfer you over to our international department so they can answer your question i do apologize for having to transfer you if you ll hold one second i will get an internation reprea senative ton the phone tell me when you re ready to transfer q ga

ok ga

one moement (holding to music) (recorded message)(one moment pls)(and I will relay complete message)please wait ringing 1 ...2...3...4...(recorded message)(one moment pls)(and I will relay complete message)thank you for calling delta airlines all represenatives are currently servicing other customers ...your call will be answered as soon as a represenatative becomes avaiablle (recorded message)(one moment pls)(and I will relay complete message)(recorded message) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (male) hello ..okay oh not this is delta international my name is mr penn ga

I have a question for you. Iwill be flying from Honolulu to Frankfurt. I was wondering if they would provide a portable DVD so I can watch the movie with closed captioned or subtitled because I know that most movies on the plane do not have closed captioned. ga

okay give me one moment and let me go ahead and check the at for you one moment please ga
ok ga

(holding) (holding) okay thank you for waiting unfornatunely we do not provide portable dvd players and our movies that we show on the aircraft do not provide closed captioned ga

right. you should provide dvd portable player for the deaf passengers. ga

give me a moment i m going to put you on hold and i m going to check with a supervisor because i dont see anything on my computer one moment please (holding) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (ca 3522 M) (relief) (holding to music) (male) ok thank you for waiting ok i checked with the supervisor and right now there is nothing that delta provides as far as closed captions or subtitles for our movies ga

Let me tell you something. Virgin Atlantic Airways do provide a portable DVD players for the deaf passenger. that was very nice. but you don't provide. Can you contact disability office and request it ? ga

um i could check it with a supervisor but i dont think we provide dvd players but i could check for you one moment please (holding) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) ok thank you for waiting um do you have your flight number date of travel and your last name so i can pull up his record for my supervisor to look at q ga

David leaving Honolulu flight on June ga

ok uh let me pull that up one moment please (holding) (holding) (holding) ok i have the record and let me go ahead and actually check that for you im gonna put you on hold and ill be right back (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) (holding to music) ok thank you for waiting yeah weve actually talked to our department that handles the disability act ga
and um they said that its not required for us to provide that equipment we did take a copy of your record and will express concern to our management and we yknow but theres no guarantee in the future that we will have this equipment available to us ga

that's shame. they do provide the equipment for the hearing passengers to watch movies but not for the deaf passenger. isn't that sad? ga

i apologize that we do not thats not something i can we can actually provide at this time ga

okay. i appreicate it. thank u bye bye sksk
youre welcome thank you for calling delta sksk (hung up) ga or sk

goosegreen

IMO, all airlines should have captions on their movies. I find it really hard to hear the dialogue with all the background noise etc. But when I turn it up, it doesn't get any clearer & when they play music, it booms so loud I think everyone in the plane can hear it!

Actually, I usually watch the movies without the headphones & can usually keep track of the plot! But I sympathise with you...it's wrong, wrong, wrong!

whirledtraveler

Well, I see both sides of this. In the US we have the 'Americans with Disabilities Act' but there is nothing to keep it in check. At what point does it stop? Should the airlines provide special DVD players for people with vision-impairments? Should the audio IFE have a closed caption too for talk shows? The safety card isn't in braille should it be? Shouldn't the seats be a whole lot wider for obese people?

Portable DVD players are very affordable these days. I'd pick one up.

TravelManKen

Although I can feel for your frustration, I think your request is unreasonable. Most of my life has been spent with my twin brother who was in a wheelchair and blind. The reality was that were just some places we could not go and some things that we could not do. The same goes for being hearing impaired, you can't expect an airline to provide portable DVD recorders AND DVD's for disabled passengers. If I recall correctly the films are not on DVD, so that would another added expense. I think this should be an expense for yourself. I've advocated for many disabled rights, but I really think that this one is over the top.

HigherFlyer

It should be easy for the airline to simply start buying/renting the movies with captions available. Many international airlines DO have this feature, for various languages. (I know for sure that KLM and Icelandic both have captions.) Not a big deal for them to do. I say don't back down. In the end, they'll never change it unless we ask them to.
At least,... ask for some extra FF miles as compensation!

KDHawaii777

You made me furious!

Go to this website and look for "Deaf and Hard of Hearing Passengers"

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/speci...nboard.view.do


How about this one???


http://www.virginholidays.co.uk/cari...ialneeds.shtml

whirledtraveler

[QUOTE=KDHawaii777]You made me furious!

Go to this website and look for "Deaf and Hard of Hearing Passengers"

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/speci...nboard.view.do
QUOTE]

Go ahead and be furious. One of my children has a profound hearing loss, but we don't think that is everyone else's responsibility to accomodate. Buy yourself a DVD player or vote with your feet and fly Virgin. If, on the other hand, you can get, say, Ryanair to provide IFE for anyone this way, by all means go for it

HigherFlyer

Please, I hope you learn to stand up for your child's rights, or at least encourage them to do so for themselves.
If a US airline has IFE, it IS their responsibility to accomodate EVERYONE, whether you think so or not. Captions are a simple inexpensive fix. ALL airlines with IFE can easily provide captions. To not do so is just inconsiderate.

KDHawaii777

"Although I can feel for your frustration, I think your request is unreasonable"

The reason I was furious was becaus you said my request is unreasonable. How could you say that?

Try to turn the sound off and watch tv. get the idea?

TravelManKen

KD-Hi - You're mixing issues. I'm not saying that being deaf of hearing impaired is not a significant challenge and disability that needs to be reasonably accommodated; I'm just saying that this request is not a reasonable accomodation. Having wheelchairs available for all gates and flights is reasonable, it's needed so that people can get on/off an airplane without being forced to have someone carry them. A portable DVD player is a luxury item that is not needed to insure the safety or comfort of a a disabled passenger. Now if the airlines banned the use of a DVD player that would be wrong, but you can't expect an airline to have enough portable DVD players available to meet the request - even if it's done in advance. Plus when you add in the fiscal impact of purchasing & servicing that inventory you reach an unacceptable cost.

As for subtitles on all movies, that's a gray area. Although I do like to watch movies with subtitles many people find it annoying. It's not fair to effectively penalize 130 passengers for a few people. My comments may sound harsh, but I'm just trying to give my opinion in an open and honest manner.

HigherFlyer

No offense taken but the fact is that the subtitles are invisible unless turned on. If no one needs them, they would not be seen.

The bottom line is, HAVING subtitles may be annoying to some, but they don't PREVENT anyone from waching the IFE.
But NOT having the captions, DOES prevent some passengers from watching the IFE.
Not a fair comarison, IMH(hearing)O.

KDHawaii777

You know, the airlines are required to have movie with sound. Why don't they required to have movie with closed captioned or subtitled?

whirledtraveler

I'm trying to find the smiley for perplexed. I can't find it. Maybe this one:

Okay, (1) airlines are not required to have any movies at all. (2) They are not required to have sound. I haven't seen a Charlie Chaplin film in IFE, but I doubt it would be banned.

whirledtraveler

You and I can talk about responsibility, and that's fine. Apparently the gov't and the airlines think otherwise, which is what started this thread. Convince them not me. We're doing okay with our books and DVD players, really.

If you want to solve a problem, get the gov't to mandate larger seat widths to accomodate medically obese people. That will solve a real disability problem and perhaps make seating better for the rest of us as well.

Use that as your rallying cry:

"If a US airline has seats, it IS their responsibility to accomodate EVERYONE.."

Dovster

Most airlines do not have any inflight entertainment at all for their TLV-Europe flights, which are 4-6 hours, so it would be hard to argue that it is necessity.

And, quite honestly, the inflight movies I have seen (or started to see) on flights to the US have generally been so poor that I turned them off.

Best inflight entertainment: A good book.