It’s bad enough when they lose your luggage, but what do you do when the airline loses your 83-year-old mother? File a claim? Poor Vera Kuemmel had to answer this very question as she waited in vain at the baggage claim of the Tampa airport.
From 10Connects:
Wheelchair-bound Elfride Kuemmel was on her way back home to Tampa Monday when a US Airways employee wheeled her on to the wrong connecting flight.
The 83-year-old wound up in Puerto Rico, where she was initially told she’d have to spend the night at the airport.
Vera, of course, objected to this idea.
“I was upset, and I told them there was no way they were going to leave her in the airport all night waiting to leave on a flight at 3:30 in the afternoon,” she told the local news.
US Airways ended up buying Elfride dinner, a hotel room, and a flight back to Florida. First class.
Elderly Tampa woman ”lost” by US Airways [10Connects]
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How can I arrange for this service for my MIL? I don’t care where they loose her, as long as it’s some place without phones.
@Burgandy: Lose, errrr …
@Burgandy: Don’t worry, when my MIL breaks loose there is always hell to pay.
The hard part is refastening the restraints before she bites someone.
@Burgandy: Sign me up for the “Lose your MIL” service. That’s a fantastic idea! Of course knowing my MIL she’d gripe about how the first class flight had something wrong with it…you know how she is.
@Burgandy: Haha agreed!
@Burgandy: I thought it was hilarious. (your comment). But what the hell – she got a free trip to PUERTO RICO!!
@quagmire0: I know! Ungrateful biddy…
@Burgandy: I lol’d.
Or is it l’dol?
@Burgandy: What’s to complain about
1: She probably got the extra frequent flyer miles
2: She got to fly back first class
3: She go to go to Puerto Rico
Some people are so ungrateful
Plus, I’m sure US Air is taking this seriously, and somehow it’s probably Mrs. Kuemmel’s fault anyway. US Air just needs to investigate further so they can find a way to sell that story. Or if it was their fault, I’m sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation, and that it happens all the time, so it’s no big deal, right?
I especially love the part where they wanted to just leave her parked in the airport in a wheelchair for God knows how many hours.
Any bets on whether they can screw up and send her somewhere else she didn’t want to go on the way back?? Where’s her luggage? And did they charge her extra for it.
In all seriousness, it raises a huge security question. Her luggage (if she had any), was undoubetedly checked through to her proper destination. What happened to those strict controls where only luggage of people confirmed to be on the aircraft could be loaded? Or maybe she didn’t have any. I suppose that’s possible. But, as said before, they’re probably taking it seriously, and US Air will undoubetedly re-train whomever screwed up this one. Yeah right.
I would try small claims court. j/k
My guess (Sorry, I can’t read the article) is that she did not get off of the flight in FL and was sent to PR.
It was nice that they sent her home in style!
@jdhuck: Nope, the airlines wheeled her onto the wrong flight. (Didn’t even need to read the article for that, Meg quoted it in the post…)
@ionerox: This reading thing is completely overrated. I would rather just touch the screen and it jump inside my head. If Only I had a better mobile browser……
@jdhuck: Or you could jump in a pool w/your iPhone….Cartman was able to learn history by swimming in water w/his Tivo so this should work..
@The Tie Rule Information Packet Intern: Who peed in your Jet Fuel?
Yes, they made an enormous stupid, but, it’s good to see that things turned out better than they usually do (Mom got a hotel room, and a first-class flight home.) I remember reading about a whole group of people that spent the night in phone booths or whatever after some jackass airline cancelled their flight and left them stranded on some island in monsoon season and the airport kicked them out, or some such rubbish.
@heltoupee:
You are thinking Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. The airline couldn’t fly out due to a hurricane and the Dominican guard wouldn’t allow them to stay in the airport. They were put on buses for the most part, since most of the resorts either were full or closed.
This happened about 2 weeks after I back from there for my honeymoon.
*checks*
Nope, my mom is still here. And she’s not 83.
@EyeHeartPie: Yeah can we not do the “This will happen to YOU” thing on every headline to get the reaction? I realize it’s kind of your thing, but sometimes it just doesn’t work.
@The Tie Rule Information Packet Intern: I kind of like it, although I understand why it could get annoying. But it makes me laugh, especially with headlines like this.
If you are commenting you shopuld be able to read the excerpt here…
“. . . a US Airways employee wheeled her on to the wrong connecting flight.”
So no fault of the old woman at all
@TakingItSeriously: Unless you are taking it too seriously.
Hmm – don’t you typically have to present some kind of boarding pass to BOARD a plane? Even if you’re being wheeled on?
Seems like if the ticket agent had done his/her job, they would have gotten an error message preventing the whole fiasco.
@dinger_82: seems like that’s not the case. Some time back I read a blog entry or a news article where a guy has gone to something like terminal 9 instead of 9A and ended up at the wrong airport.
Maybe someone can provide the link to that article.
@LankanDude: Yeah, it really doesn’t seem like the air-lines have a system in place to raise a flag if your boarding pass doesn’t match the flight you’re boarding. Maybe this is just paranoia on my part, but I always check about 20 times when I get to my gate just to be sure. Of course, I generally follow recommended airport arrival times, so I usually have a couple of hours to wait and make sure I’ve got everything right…
@nataku83: I’ve actually seen that happen at Southwest – where somebody tried to board the wrong plane, and the attendant checking boarding passes stopped him. Of course, this IS US Air we’re talking about.
@dinger_82: it was on consumerist
[consumerist.com]
@dinger_82: Well it happens. One time I was on a flight and the lady next to me was on the wrong plane.
@LeroyBurhans:
I’ve seen it, too. Packed jet, already late for takeoff, pilot asking repeatedly over the intercom if everyone on the plane is headed for Nice. On perhaps the fifth request for “anyone not flying to Nice to please report to the cabin crew”, a very red-faced couple stood up halfway down the plane, and everyone else cheered.
The airlines lose “old bags” quite often. Just kidding. Ha, ha.
@kwsventures: Ooooh damn *ducks*
I really wonder what the idjit who initially told her to sleep at the airport could possibly have been thinking.
@picardia: Probably thinking about GM, Ford, and their private jets. But seriously, this element of the story disturbed me A LOT more than the fact that she was sent to the wrong location. I can understand human error. I CANNOT understand mistreating customers, especially the elderly and disabled. It is NOT okay to tell her she was going to have to stay overnight in the airport for a 3:30 flight the next afternoon. Or even for one that was leaving at 7 a.m. the next morning, for that matter.
@picardia: the thoughts, “I am nearly off, soon I will be drunk and I still have to post that laptop I stole from luggage onto E-Bay”
This is quite the foul up, however, my analysis is as follows: The initial reaction to have an elderly woman stay overnight in the airport is quite disturbing. When the question of proper service and treatment of consumers came up, they did the right thing and even put her on first class. But, flights are so expensive that nobody rides first class anymore so they probably only had room in first class.
@nerdychaz: You forget she was flying US Airways. Putting granny in first class was obviously a punishment and a warning.
@Xerloq: I fly first class, and I do not find to to be that expensive, usually only $50 more than regular coach fare. Being 6’3 I find the cost to be well worth my comfort.
@Xerloq: rofl
It could have been worse. In 2001, an airline lost an Alzheimer’s patient in Dallas. It took six years to find her remains:
[www.msnbc.msn.com]
That is sad. 1 ? though do people pay extra for elderly sitting or is that just above and beyond by the airlines. If you have to pay then by all means you can sue but how did the airlines know that that women would be kidnaped and killed or that she had alzheimers for that matter.
When will people learn the first rule of flying is never fly USAir.
@Triborough: Agreed. The company for which I work has blacklisted US Airways after several rotten experiences.
@TheStonepedo: I’ve earned a ton of frequent flyer miles on us airways and can finally use them for a free trip overseas. i hesitate racking us anymore miles on the airline but since i have so many it seems worth it to keep going because of the status I have attained as a repeat customer. I’ve only had one major flight issue with us airways (plane delayed 90 minutes reason 1) mechanical issue with engine (ok good reason) 2) after switching planes, new place was not stocked with water and ice which is an faa rule to have on board. Flight staff wouldn’t allow my friend who has epilepsy and needed water to take a pill offboard to find a bottle of water after sitting for more than 45 minutes or couldn’t seem to locate a bottle soon enough until we complained. Result: Free flight voucher
@Triborough: The first and last time I flew US Air, my flight was three hours late and they smashed my luggage and refused to reimburse me for the damaged goods.
Yep.
I don’t know why I was surprised.
@LeroyBurhans: I’ve seen it too.
You feel bad but you can’t help but chuckle. The pilot reads off the destination, they turn to someone else on the plane and say “wait this isn’t going to _____ ” and then a look of dread on their face when they realize by that point its too late to do anything about it.
@tande04: Which makes me wonder why I don’t just buy a ticket to some place close and cheap and board a plane for Hawaii. Though I imagine if they caught you doing that and could prove you did it knowingly you’d be in a whole heap of trouble.
@tande04: Wasn’t that one of thye plots in “Airport 66?”
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy–>: Maybe.
I’ve only seen “Airplane” though. It wasn’t until just recently I found out it was a spoof of the Airport series of movies.
LMAO
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy–>: Wait-a-minute. There was no “Airport ’66″…
@tande04: I admit I forget which “Airport” it was, but I didn’t want to confuse people with the show on A&E or the movie “Airplane”.
I love how their first attempt to resolve the screw up was “Just sit your 83 year old ass down in that wheelchair and wait overnight til 3:30 tomorrow afternoon.”
Nice.
Damn, USAir, I know you guys have an impressive record of completely screwing the pooch, but it’s not a damn contest.
USAir once left me and some other folks stranded at the Philadelphia airport overnight because our originating flight left an hour and a half late, and the last connecting flights for the night had already left. This included a mother and her toddler. I had to chase down a company rep and shame them into comping us hotel rooms for the night.
@Ubik2501: The first (and last) time I flew US Air, they did a similar thing – apparently booking flights with zero time between connections is SOP for them – and stranded a planeful of people at 11:00 at night. I overheard one of the customer service reps telling a co-worker “I know we’re not supposed to give them room and food vouchers, but I’m going to do it anyway.”
It wouldn’t have been so bad except that the TSA weenies insisted on going through her underwear.
Can they loose me and the wife for 2 weeks in May?
@KhaiJB: No, but I bet they can lose you.
The old bag probably got to board early. If she is too old to get on a plane on her own, maybe she shouldn’t be flying alone.
@johnnya2: You’re right about that, but if children can fly unaccompanied, so can elderly adults who need assistance. Bet she never does it again, eh?
You can tell the airlines are hurting really bad
“US Airways ended up buying Elfride dinner, a hotel room, and a flight back to Florida. First class. “
6 months ago it the end result would’ve been
“US Airwats ended up charging her for the ticket to Puerto Rico, the ticket back, and extra baggage fee, and a missed connection fee.”
@WEGGLES90: The glare of media spotlight, I think. I’m sure almost every airline would have loved to go with scenario #2. And what do you mean “extra” baggage fee? Don’t we start with the first bag now?
Thankfully she ended up in Puerto Rico. People in PR are nice and it’s warm so hopefully the old lady didn’t have too much of a horrible time.
Did it say anything about the lady’s mental state? Was she senile or just in a wheelchair?
I have to give US Airways credit for taking care of her in the end. I agree that it was absolutely unacceptable to tell her to stay in the airport overnight, but from what I have personally seen US Airways is usually accommodating of older passengers.
My English-born grandparents spend every summer in the UK and have flown US Airways almost exclusively for at least 15 years. Between them they have two pacemakers, three replaced knees, one replaced hip, and four hearing aids, so it’s hard for them to get through the airport and on a plane easily. -Every- time they fly, US Airways either seats them in the bulkhead row at the front of the plane or upgrades them to first class, and they have never been charged for it. They are also met at check-in with wheelchairs, escorted through security, and then taken to their gate by one of those awesome buggies.
(I do not work for US Airways, but I have been trying to talk the buggy-drivers into letting me catch a ride on one since I was like, 5.)
Well at least they did the right thing after the fact. They should hire people who can both read and comprehend.
i guess the plane to PR must not have been full, or wouldn’t it been discovered when someone else boarded the plane with the same seat number?
I spent over 20 years in the airline business. Things like this occasionally happen. People make mistakes. However…
I don’t know who told that poor old lady that she would have to spend the night in the airport (especially SJU), but I would have fired them on the spot.
I’ve worked for three different airlines, and every one of them would have profusely apologized, gotten her a room, provided meal vouchers and sent her home without charge on the next flight to her destination.