The Briefing Room
General Category => National/Breaking News => Topic started by: rangerrebew on April 22, 2014, 08:53:27 pm
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Disabled man who was forced to CRAWL off Delta plane, down a flight of stairs... and do the same on his flight back from Hawaii vacation wins a 'substantial' payout
Disabled Baraka Kanaan was made to crawl off Delta Airlines plane - twice
Two separate incidents - to and from Nantucket - took place in 2012
Mr Kanaan forced to walk 'on hands and knees' as there was no equipment
Former professor was partially paralyzed in a car accident in 2000
By Sara Malm
Published: 05:19 EST, 22 April 2014 | Updated: 06:39 EST, 22 April 2014
A disabled former college professor has won a lawsuit against an airline that forced him to crawl off a plane and onto the tarmac on his hands and knees - twice
Mr Baraka Kanaan, who is partially paralysed, was travelling from his home on Maui, Hawaii, to Nantucket Island, Massachusetts with Delta Airlines in July 2012.
Upon arrival, Delta Airlines refused to accommodate Mr Kanaan’s disability, making him crawl down the aisle, down a flight of steps and across the tarmac - and then made him do the same thing on his flight back home.
Delta Airlines have now settled the case with Mr Kanaan, the terms of which are confidential, but believed to be substantial, Hawaii News Now reports.
Mr. Kanaan, who suffers partial paralysis of his legs stemming from a car accident in 2000, claims he called a Delta customer service representative several weeks before his scheduled trip.
He told a representative that he would need a lift to get onto the airplane and an aisle chair to get him to his seat, which the representative said would not be a problem.
Upon arrival in Nantucket, he was told by flight attendants that the airline did not have an aisle chair to get him out of his seat, nor a lift to get him off the plane.
When he asked what he was supposed to do, Mr. Kanaan claims he was told, 'I don't know, but we can't get you off the plane,' according to the complaint.
Sued: Mr Kanaan claims he was told there was no equipment to help him on and off the plane on the tarmac at Nantucket Island airport in 2012
Simultaneously, Mr. Kanaan claims, he could see a lift available at an adjacent gate.
Mr. Kanaan, while wearing his 'best suit,' was then forced to crawl 'hand-over-hand' down the aisle, down a flight of stairs and across the tarmac to his wheelchair - without any assistance from the crew -as other passengers watched.
The incident, he claims, caused 'great physical and emotional suffering.'
‘I can feel literally my spine was like someone had a sledgehammer and they were pounding a ten-inch spike in my sacral, hammering away,' he told Hawaii News Now last year.
'My thoracic, I could hear pops and clicks.'
‘My initial feeling was absolute shock, kind of like Twilight Zone feeling.’
Before heading home to Hawaii, Mr. Kanaan called Delta to report the incident, and to make sure the equipment would be available for his return flight in an attempt to avoid another humiliating ordeal.
When Mr. Kanaan got to the airport he was yet again told the chair and lift were unavailable.
A flight attendant then offered to put a piece of cardboard on the ground so Mr. Kanaan's clothes wouldn't get dirty as he crawled across the ground, he claims in the suit.
Once he returned home, Mr. Kanaan says Delta offered him 25,000 'sky miles' and a $100 voucher. He refused the offer, however, in fear that any future flights might again have him crawling on his hands and knees.
For any airplane with a seating capacity of 31 or more passengers, the Air Carrier Access Act requires airlines and airports to 'provide boarding assistance to individuals with disabilities by using ramps, mechanical lifts, or other suitable devices where level-entry boarding by loading bridge or mobile lounge is not available.'
A similar incident happened in 2008, when a woman with muscular dystrophy was forced to crawl off of two separate Delta flights.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2610181/Disabled-man-forced-CRAWL-Delta-plane-flight-stairs-tarmac-agreed-substantial-settlement.html#ixzz2zeOixmjj
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It was really difficult reading this article. It's a big mess.
Delta used to be the "class"airline, but it's clear they've joined all the others in the cattle car business.
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It was really difficult reading this article. It's a big mess.
Delta used to be the "class"airline, but it's clear they've joined all the others in the cattle car business.
Flew Delta last year and it came very close to curing me of ever flying again.
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Delta is only marginally better than USAir. We flew Jet Blue a couple of weeks ago and were quite pleased. That's an incredibly long trip, though, from Hawaii to Nantucket!
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It was really difficult reading this article. It's a big mess.
Delta used to be the "class"airline, but it's clear they've joined all the others in the cattle car business.
couldn't agree more.
was there not a single device in the entire airport that could have been used to assist this gentleman? if there was absolutely no such equipment available, couldn't they have at least improvised something like a stretcher to carry him off? were there no employees of the airline, or the airport, strong enough to help carry this man with at least a little dignity across the tarmac? Surely when he first boarded the plane - when presumably he was helped on board since the suit says nothing about that - the air crew must have known that they needed to make sure they had the equipment to get him off when they landed?
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if you are going to post an article, at least make it readable
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if you are going to post an article, at least make it readable
Posting a Daily Mail article takes a lot of editing, but it can be done!
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couldn't agree more.
was there not a single device in the entire airport that could have been used to assist this gentleman? if there was absolutely no such equipment available, couldn't they have at least improvised something like a stretcher to carry him off? were there no employees of the airline, or the airport, strong enough to help carry this man with at least a little dignity across the tarmac? Surely when he first boarded the plane - when presumably he was helped on board since the suit says nothing about that - the air crew must have known that they needed to make sure they had the equipment to get him off when they landed?
Of course there was gear available. SOP for most airlines is, if there is no ramp available, which happens, the person needing assistance waits until all other passengers have disembarked, then is taken down using the catering lift truck with a wheelchair loaded as a side thought. Wife has had to sit with them often enough while that happens (crew members take it in turns to deal with unaccompanied minors and the disabled, but she's a popular pick since she is incredibly good with people. She also tends to deal with deportees, since she is rather good at keeping them calm).