Summary
United Airlines apologized to Melissa Sotomayor after crew members tried to make her remove her son’s ventilator during a March 8 flight from Tampa to Newark.
Sotomayor, whose 2-year-old son relies on a ventilator and tracheostomy tube, said staff demanded the equipment be stowed for takeoff despite prior medical clearance.
A third flight attendant claimed the child would “be OK” without it. The captain called her “difficult” and said the equipment was a safety risk.
Sotomayor expressed feeling humiliated and vowed never to fly United again.
This stuck out to me.
There’s only one place in the passenger compartment of a plane I know has specific rules for sitting there: the wing exit row
Having sat in the exit row before, I know the flight crew is very unforgiving for items that may block transit of passengers should the need to get off the plane present itself. This may be backed up with another statement in the article:
Were they not in an exit row on that flight, and therefor it wasn’t an issue?
It sounds like Sotomayor did everything correctly with her prep before flying. Assuming all the statements in the article are factual and my exit row theory is correct, someone at United screwed up approving an exit row seat for her and her son’s return flight, and that dropped the problem in the laps of the United flight crew that has to comply with FAA regulations.
It could have been a bulkhead seat, too. That’s the only other place where there are stricter regulations.
Yes. United’s reservation agents screwed up big time. The lady did everything she was supposed to. The crew could have solved this simply by asking for volunteers to exchange seats. Instead, they assumed that they knew more about the kid’s’condition than his mother did.
I didn’t know that about bulkhead seats. I think you’re right then, the article mentions something about that:
" the representative said the flight attendants reported it was a “bulk head seating problem,” "
So it does sound like this isn’t the flight crew being assholes, but rather the booking approver put then in a place the FAA won’t allow them to fly. If Sotomayor her first flight in a bulkhead as well, this is lose-lose for United. They either flouted the FAA rules on the first flight or created a combative situation on the second flight by trying to follow the FAA rules.
The flight crew were still being assholes, though. They could have handled it differently than not believing the woman when she asserted that her son needed the equipment, and produced the proper paperwork.
I fly a lot and know that many planes these days are full, but they absolutely could have reseated them without getting confrontational with the woman. Simply asking for volunteers, and saying “we can’t take off until this happens”, will get results.
We don’t know the paperwork United provided was proper. I believe Sotomayor did everything properly, however. This could have been part of United’s first screw up. If the United booking agent didn’t indicate the equipment was needed full time for life, it may have been put in the same category as a CPAP machine, as in not needed in use on the flight.
The article talked about the United staff talking about re-seating her. Did she refuse it? Was that not in the video?
I don’t think the “edit row” theory is correct as they wouldn’t allow a child to sit there regardless of whether they’re using a ventilator or not.
2 year olds can’t be in an exit row to begin with, regardless of medical equipment
Well, what if they can command the exit door and help other passengers exit in an orderly manner? It would be a very tall and strong toddler.
They have to be able to legally enter into a verbal contract accepting liability in the event of an emergency. So not even Benjamin Button would be allowed.
Actually, the crew should have taken one look when her kid was pre-boarded with that equipment and politely changed them to seats where it could be used safely, before they got all settled and before boarding the rest of the plane.
I haven’t had the need to use pre-boarding before, but usually I see flight attendants pretty busy with tasks as passengers are boarding.
I think we both agree the original screw up is the United Reservation folks that approved these passengers for seats they couldn’t be eligible for because of the needed equipment. Its also possible that United Reservation folks may not have marked the paperwork that the equipment was required for the kid to live. So the flight crew may have thought the mom was trying to leverage the situation to get behavior she didn’t need. I still maintain the mom did all the prep work properly and this was a fault on United.
I’ve used pre-boarding a lot, because my husband is quadriplegic, and especially when we also had two small children. There was always at least an offer of assistance from the crew, although I did the lifting and transferring and wheelchair-stowing myself. But it’s been a lot of years since we’ve flown at all, because planes have become even more inaccessible. They’re exempt from the ADA so it’s hard to change anything.
Thats good info. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Exactly. It shouldn’t have even been an issue, because the crew is supposed to make sure the passengers sitting in the exit rows are able and willing to actually pop the hatches open in the event of an evacuation.
During an evacuation, plane rows are too crowded for attendants to be able to get to the doors and open them. Know how you’re stuck in the plane waiting for everyone to de-board after the flight? Attendants have to deal with that when evacuating. So the passengers need to be the ones to actually pop the hatches and start clearing the plane.