Our family wishes NO ill will against the airline but we generally do wish that the education of passengers be forthcoming and timely, instead of thinking you are going to your destination and then at the last minute after going through the security & boarding process, be told you are not permitted to fly. These procedures must be reviewed & altered by the company to better serve their clients.

David

I don’t think that I can add anything else to what I stated a week ago, nor do I see any reason to believe that the folks at Allegiant Airlines are any less heartless than I thought a week ago.

Ron

Whether or not the airline as an entity was within its right to deny flight to my father is not the issue I have with Allegiant. So far I have read your article and the one on the Bangor Dailey News website about my father and have decided that these written words do not fully explain why the decision to deny flight in this case is of much importance, focus and scrutiny. Because I believe many are not getting a complete picture of why this is an important issue, I have decided to write this to you in hopes that the broad gap in understanding might be narrowed. Please understand these words come from my point of perception and cover no regulations, rules, or rights as defined by law whatsoever.

If the airline personnel had reviewed the circumstances and refused my father flight before running him through an entire boarding process I believe the issue would have made family upset but would have been understood. The fact that the employees of this airline allowed my father to be checked in, dragged through a lengthy security procedure, made to wait with everyone at the gate to board the plane, then brought all the way to the plane door to be told he is not going home was outrageous and wrong!

The sheer amount of time wasted at this airport going through these procedures took valuable time from my father’s life and depleted the emotional state of every family member. Period.

Let me paint a picture for you:
Currently living in Florida my father had known for some time he was going to die soon and towards the end of his life decided to come back to Maine in order to see family for the last time. Once in Maine everyone in the family was privileged to share some time with him. Towards the end he asked to be taken back to his home in Florida. As much as we wanted him to stay the family honored his last request and made it top priority to get him back. My belief is he did not want us to see him anymore in this condition or just wanted to simply spend the last day of his life in his own home.

After being advised by doctors a road trip was not the best course of travel, he was booked on an Allegiant Air flight to go home. Saturday morning June 28th 2008, my father was driven to Bangor International Airport, and accompanied by his wife, sister, 2 brothers, 2 sons, 2 nephews and their wives and children. All had come believing they were going to see a loved one get one final wish granted. Everyone followed my dad through the whole process until they could go no further. When the security checkpoint was reached each family member gave my father a hug and said goodbye before he entered. Watching my dad’s face while he tried to hug each one back and did his best to say thank you for coming knowing he would never see that person again was one of the hardest things anyone could watch and as I write these words the tears are as they were that day.

Armed with a pass I was lucky enough to go with him through security and assist in the trek to the flight gate. After explaining to an airline employee how to manage my father’s migration out of his electric chair, I watched as this employee escorted him and his wife down the boarding ramp. When they arrived at the airplanes doorway two employees removed my dad from his electric chair and buckled him into what they called an isle chair. During the changeover I remember the gate employee standing beside me mention he was also a military veteran as my dad was and asking me what my father did during his time in service. It took me a bit of time to answer as I tried to wipe the tears from my eyes and the emotion from my mind just to look his direction.

You must understand that at this point I had said my final good bye and resigned myself to the fact that I would never see my father again as did everyone else who came.

Staring down the boarding ramp at my dad reviewing in my mind all the final moments spent with him I heard a voice emanating from the plane’s entrance door saying “I’m sorry… I am so sorry”. It took me a few seconds to realize what was going on because in my thoughts there was no way it could be what was actually happening. These words were repeated several times and then my father was again moved from the isle chair back into his electric chair. I could not believe what I was hearing and seeing. The look on his wife’s face was devastating and showed an unimaginable amount of disappointment and frustration. They brought my dad all the way to the plane door allowing everyone to think he was going to make it home just to deny him at the last moment.
When my dad was brought back into the view of his family watching behind a glass wall it was clear that each one had been absolutely crushed by what had happened.

My father, Dennis Hill died in a hospital July 1st 2008 and never saw his home. Every family member now has to live with the knowledge that this man’s last simple request to die in his own home was never realized.
The only thing my father wanted in the end was to go to his home in Florida. No matter how anyone feels about that desire, myself and the rest of his family wanted nothing more than to give this dying man, my dad, that last wish. Part of the mechanism that was engaged to make this last request happen was a flight on Allegiant Airlines with a travel time of less than 4 hours. At check in the airline employees were aware of the circumstances and should have made a decision then.

Allowing us to watch as he was taken through the entire process of boarding a flight just to be refused entry at the plane’s entrance in my opinion was a serious fault by the employees of Allegiant Airlines.

Years ago, there was a rather notable situation at one airline involving an emotional support service pig. Yes, you read that correctly. The pig’s name was Charlotte. Its owner claimed over the telephone that the pig was of the Vietnamese Pot-Bellied variety, and that it would easily fit underneath the seat in front of her. The owner also claimed that having the pig in the cabin with her was necessary to her emotional well-being.

Based on her description of the situation, the pig was approved for travel in the cabin. Of note, at the time, the DOT’s guidance document on service animals did not exist and there was not federal guidance for emotional support service animal documentation procedures.

Of course, she was traveling XYZ to Seattle, not something short like XYZ to Pittsburgh.

Departure time comes, and the owner shows up with Charlotte. She is NOT of the Vietnamese Pot-Bellied variety. Charlotte is sow, so large, in fact, that she will not fit anywhere in the coach cabin. Only between a row in First Class.

My predecessor more or less orders XYZ staff to accept the animal based on its “emotional support service animal” so-called designation, it and its owner are upgraded to First Class (much to the chagrin of the 20 or so other paying customers), and off they go to Seattle. Most of the flight is uneventful.

Upon landing, Charlotte goes nuts, decides it’s a good time to relieve herself. All over the First Class cabin, up the jetway and into the terminal.

And then, Charlotte’s owner had the gall to ask for a refund of the return half of her nonrefundable ticket! Apparently, she was moving to Seattle and just wanted to take her pig with her. Her request was flatly declined.

After this, the DOT issued guidance to airlines on how to deal with difficult service animal situations, including multiple animals, oversized animals, emotional support animals, strange animals (spiders, snakes, etc.) and so on.

Check out my previous article on customers with disabilities.

http://www.tripso.com/columns/flying-with-a-disability-7-insider-tips-for-a-smooth-flight/

It’s got a link to the DOT’s guidance document on service animals.
David

There are so many angles to this situation , it isn’t funny!

A worse scenario is if the aircraft has to divert to an en route city, especially if it is one to which the particular airline does not fly. And that goes double for overseas flights.

If the closest suitable airport happens to be one the airline flies to, it’s a no-brainer. Once the ill customer is (hopefully) released, the airline simply rebooks the customer to his or her destination.

But if it’s a city that airline doesn’t serve, at least at my old employer, the customer is on his or her own to get to the nearest city served by “X” airline. And imagine if that were a transatlantic flight, and we put down in Iceland to get you to a hospital? Now you’re faced with getting from KEF to the U.S. to hook up to our domestic route network to get to Tampa, or wherever.

That’s at your expense, not ours. We’ve already paid a landing fee at KEF, additional fuel, crew overtime, hotels for customers who missed connections, etc.

It’s a harsh reality, but it’s the truth.
David