Kate Hanni: Story of Amy Evans Cancer Patient Stuck in Airport ala United

Jan '08 First Horror Story Press Release
PRESS RELEASE

Air Passenger Advocacy Group Helps Cancer Patient in Need

When a traveler flying to San Diego for life-saving surgery is denied boarding, the Coalition for Airline Passenger Rights steps in to help
Passengers on a New Year’s Eve United Airlines flight from Eugene, Oregon to San Diego were appalled when a rude and uncooperative gate agent refused boarding to a wheelchair-bound passenger trying to reach San Diego for an urgently needed surgical procedure for her cancer. The passenger, a 26 year-old woman named Amy Evans, was told by the airline that she would have to remove all of her medications from her carry-on luggage and place all of it in two clear plastic bags. The airline then informed Amy that she now had to PAY for checking the two additional pieces of “luggage”. Then Amy was told that she would have to sign a Waiver of Liability in case the medications (worth several thousand dollars) were damaged or destroyed. When Amy refused to sign the form, the United Airlines agent, a surly young man named Ted (ironically!) not only refused to allow her to board, but actually went so far as to reach into Amy’s purse, grab her boarding passes and rip up Amy’s tickets in front of her. He then made an announcement over the loud system that he was not going to allow her to board in an inexplicable effort to embarrass her publicly. According to accounts from several of the other passengers, Amy was acting calmly and in no way warranted the poor treatment she received. Many other passengers went so far as to tell the agent that they would not board the plane themselves unless he allowed the young woman to board, but he still refused. Fortunately for Amy, SIX of her fellow passengers called our toll-free hotline to report the incident. The hotline volunteer quickly contacted the Coalition’s President and Founder Kate Hanni, who wasted no time getting involved personally to help the desperate young woman. Kate immediately phoned Amy, who was immensely relieved and grateful for the assistance. Kate immediately contacted the Airport Authority office in Eugene to report the incident and attempt to resolve Amy’s dilemma. Kate spent the next SIXTEEN hours working to help Amy reach her destination, monitoring her progress.

Fortunately, not everyone in Eugene, Oregon is as nasty as Ted. Kate was able to reach a wonderful and cooperative woman at the airport named Kathryn who immediately leaped into action to help. Kathryn contacted the United Airlines administrative office to see what steps could be taken to help Amy. The airline was embarrassed when they learned about what had occurred and quickly issued a $10 food voucher to Amy and booked her on the next flight to San Diego. After a weather delay in San Francisco, Amy eventually reached San Diego at 11pm that night where her medications were waiting at the airport. We are pleased to report that Amy made it in time for her scheduled surgery and is doing well. Kate is now working to help Amy file a complaint against the airline and asking for full reimbursement for the unfair baggage charges.

This is a perfect example of why we have a HOTLINE! We are first and foremost an advocacy group that exists to help ALL passengers and assure that they are treated fairly. The coalition is gratified that our free hotline was able to make such an important difference to someone like Amy. We hope you will help with a donation and assure we can continue providing this valuable service by logging into www.flyersrights.com/contribute.html .

We urgently need your help to continue this important struggle for your rights and safety. Although our membership is up, donations have recently dropped, making it exceedingly difficult for us to continue this fight. It costs a lot of money to continue our lobbying efforts, run the hotline and pay for press releases on the PR Newswire. We even help defray the costs for some passengers who couldn’t otherwise afford it to fly to Washington, DC to have them testify before Congress and allow them to tell their stories to politicians in an effort to make them understand the plight of air passengers today and help us get our Passenger Bill of Rights passed.

One of our coalition members recently made the generous offer to donate $25,000 to our cause if we could raise a matching amount through donations from our members. Although we have made progress, we are still short of our goal and urgently need your assistance. Many of our members are opting to sign up for our donation subscription service as an easy and painless way to donate to the cause. A small monthly donation can be automatically deducted from your account to help us fight for your rights as an airline passenger. Please go to our web site and see how safe, easy and convenient it is to contribute to this worthy cause. We’re also pleased to announce another great (and painless) way to help the cause. When you apply for the new FlyersRights Platinum Visa Card, our issuing bank (UMB) will donate $50 to FlyersRights the very first time you use it! And UMB will donate a percentage of all your future purchases on the card to FlyersRights as well! All the benefits of a Platinum Visa card will be yours, along with the satisfaction of showing your support for the FlyersRights mission every time you use your card. We hope you will take advantage of this fantastic opportunity and use your new card each time you pay for an airfare. Let the airlines know that you expect to be treated fairly whenever you fly and that you support the FlyersRights Coalition.

We urge you to visit our web site and learn about the Airline Passenger Bill of Rights that we are trying to get passed. Canada recently passed legislation to safeguard the rights of its citizens whenever they fly. Don’t Americans deserve the same type of protection?!! Please help us fight for this important legislation and make a contribution today.

We wish all of you a very Happy New Year and thank you for your kind and generous support!

Best wishes,
The Coalition for an Airline Passenger Bill of Rights [CAPBOR]
Kate Hanni
Executive Director