Obese flier turned away from airlines; dies overseas

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  • avonlady54555
    avonlady54555 Posts: 6 Member
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    Here's the deal the way I see it. KLM was responsible to get her home. they flew her there with no problems. Besides being fat this woman was an amputee. Who knows when she gained her weight, but doesn't matter.
  • Kathy_TheVampireSlayer
    Kathy_TheVampireSlayer Posts: 189 Member
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    .
  • schustc
    schustc Posts: 428 Member
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    Here's the thing:

    If the airline could not guarantee her departure AND her return, they should never have sold her the ticket. End of Story. In my opinion, they accepted responsibility by letting her take the plane THERE, and then stranded her in another country. I don't care who you are, that's just WRONG.

    If the airline isn't capable of transporting - then FINE. But don't take someone to a foreign country and then go "ohh.. oops. Sorry. Tough luck. You're gonna have to find some other way home. Sucks to be you."

    yeah. That's GREAT business..
  • lenniebus
    lenniebus Posts: 321 Member
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    How did she get over there in the first place? Assuming there were no problems flying over there, why such a mix up flying back?

    Thinking they have a pretty good case against the airline that allowed her to fly away from home but would not fly her back--inconsistent refusal of service = discrimation on what was clearly a disability.

    How is the airline to know if she is going home as for good or going on vacation??? I mean the computers know because of the tickets bought, but the people boarding her... they are not gong to know who is going there one way and who is coming back. So to them they know no difference.

    They don't have to know if she's flying back--they do, however, have to be consistent with their policy with regard to who they will and will not fly. If the family can show the airline's decision not to fly her out the second time was 1) discriminatory and 2) proximately caused her death--they win the case.
  • half_moon
    half_moon Posts: 807 Member
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    I GIVE UP
  • corn63
    corn63 Posts: 1,580 Member
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    I GIVE UP

    lol you started for it. And asked for opinions.
  • Danny_Boy13
    Danny_Boy13 Posts: 2,094 Member
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    If the family can show the airline's decision not to fly her out the second time was 1) discriminatory and 2) proximately caused her death--they win the case.

    I don't think discriminatory can be used because there were other airlines involved to try to get her home and none could provide safe and adequate means for getting her into her seat. If any of the airlines were to have the proper equipment and means that I am sure this would not have been am issue. Also this might have been mentioned but lets just say that the airlines was able to board this passenger and the passenger did happen to die in mid-flight. Would it have been the airlines fault for boarding her in the ill condition that the passenger was in? On top of that other passengers could have sued the airlines for placing and subjecting them to those conditions? Bottom line, it is not the airlines fault.
    If the airline could not guarantee her departure AND her return, they should never have sold her the ticket. End of Story.

    Agreed but what if the original plane that was meant to carry the passenger had to be put up for service, came across bad weather delays, ect and it was the only plane / crew / equipment available to do so. Who is to blame then?
  • Danny_Boy13
    Danny_Boy13 Posts: 2,094 Member
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    I GIVE UP

    lol you started for it. And asked for opinions.

    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
  • TeresaWash
    TeresaWash Posts: 283
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    Certainly not the airlines fault. But.... when I started my weight loss I was 400 pounds. It's not as simple as to just say lose weight you fat slob. Believe me.... there's more to it then that.

    Yup, her health was her issues. What those issues were we don't know totally.

    It's very sad.
  • NormalSaneFLGuy
    NormalSaneFLGuy Posts: 1,344 Member
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    I have really bad diarrhea today.
  • BritneysStuntDouble
    BritneysStuntDouble Posts: 849 Member
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    Silly people.
  • BritneysStuntDouble
    BritneysStuntDouble Posts: 849 Member
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    I have really bad diarrhea today.
    You too? 3-day-old Subway?
  • NormalSaneFLGuy
    NormalSaneFLGuy Posts: 1,344 Member
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    I have really bad diarrhea today.
    You too? 3-day-old Subway?

    Intramuscular injection of antibiotics.
    I think they confused the medicine with laxatives.
  • Danny_Boy13
    Danny_Boy13 Posts: 2,094 Member
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    I have really bad diarrhea today.
    You too? 3-day-old Subway?

    Intramuscular injection of antibiotics.
    I think they confused the medicine with laxatives.

    Be sure that if you fly the airlines has enough TP or you could sue. HA!!!
  • SofaKingRad_
    SofaKingRad_ Posts: 276
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    A few months of decay and her weight and size would have been fine for that airline to send her back. They just need to practice patience!
  • Kathy_TheVampireSlayer
    Kathy_TheVampireSlayer Posts: 189 Member
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    rebel-without-a-cause.jpg





    Homeless, and SExy ....... and dead:indifferent:
  • kiraleilani
    kiraleilani Posts: 124 Member
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    Oh goodness!!!! I think I had a mild case of dyslexia or boogie in the eye because I thought she was 86, not 56!!! No, 56 isn't old!!! So sorry peeps in their 50s... you have the rest of your life ahead of you! :)

    However, a woman in her condition probably had the BODY of an 86 year old anyway.
  • NCchar130
    NCchar130 Posts: 955 Member
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    Here's the thing:

    If the airline could not guarantee her departure AND her return, they should never have sold her the ticket. End of Story. In my opinion, they accepted responsibility by letting her take the plane THERE, and then stranded her in another country. I don't care who you are, that's just WRONG.

    If the airline isn't capable of transporting - then FINE. But don't take someone to a foreign country and then go "ohh.. oops. Sorry. Tough luck. You're gonna have to find some other way home. Sucks to be you."

    yeah. That's GREAT business..

    Someone quoted an article that the crew + fire department COULD NOT GET HER IN HER SEAT. She couldn't board independently. So they had to deny boarding and it sounds like they went above and beyond to accomodate her in some other way to get home. There is only so much they can do - she purchased a ticket she was unable to use because of her medical condition. Maybe they had to downsize the aircraft to something smaller because of a maintenance issue or something, that happens all the time. And having worked for an airline, you pull up a list of all passengers on this flight that having requested assistance, and there were very rarely any details about what they need. They could be blind, elderly needing a ride to their connection, or once, an elderly man with a catheter, colostomy bag, and paralyzed from the neck down. You don't know until you locate them and then you do what you can as quick as you can. That poor man was nearly dropped twice coming off that plane since he could offer no assistance for himself, and this was with about 6 employees helping carry him off.

    I mean, if you were a passenger on that flight would you be cool if they delayed the flight for 8 hours to bring in additional resources to get her in her seat? Maybe the crew would have entered their mandatory rest period by then and the flight would be cancelled. Seen that happen, where we airline employees requested a flight delay to accomodate a special passenger or a whole group coming in on a connecting flight that was running late, but no, if we took a delay like that, the crew would 'time out' and then the whole flight is cancelled. So the flight would leave without them.

    There's all sorts of things I can think of as to why they would eventually make the decision to leave her behind, but ultimately, she could not get in her seat. Her medical issues are sad and it's sad that she passed away but the airline did not cause her death, her medical issues did. She could have seen a doctor where she was, she chose not to do that.
  • Poorgirls_Diet
    Poorgirls_Diet Posts: 528 Member
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    Woooooooooow.... given that this is MFP, I was expecting outrage, as is appropriate given the circumstances. If Kevin Smith had died due to not being able to get home because that airline refused him clearance to fly (and he isn't even that big), there would be a world wide uproar and a change in the procedures. That woman was a human being, with the right to live, be allowed to leave the country that allowed her clearance to enter in the first place, and see her physicians who might have been able to save her, knowing her conditions, and the airline that had NO TROUBLE taking her away from her doctors, should have returned her. Anyone saying 'there are doctors in Europe,' go watch the documentary Chernobyl Heart and watch the maternity ward footage. Hospitals are NOT the same.

    All of you responding that she 'killed herself,' (given that I was once 290 pounds and have now lost over 100 pounds) I beg to ****ing differ. It is never too late to make changes, it is never too late to decide to get healthy...until an airline denies you the ability to seek medical care at home. She was not given such an opportunity to reach such a stage and that IS the airlines' fault. They hauled her *kitten* there, they should have hauled her *kitten* back. PERIOD! Law suit handled.

    And seriously, I've heard there's a lot of negative, trolling and bashing on this site (which is for people JUST LIKE HER to find support), but I'd never personally encountered it. Well, open my eyes. Here it all is.


    I agree !

    the airline that had NO TROUBLE taking her away from her doctors, should have returned her.

    SERIOUSLY. You think they "took her away" from her doctors? And although she probably gained weight while in Hungary they STILL need to accommodate, even though they used an entire fire brigade team to attempt it?? Also, when she was accommodated with ANOTHER plane, with THREE SEATS, and she couldn't get in them...

    Seriously? What else do you expect them to do??

    How many excuses can you make up for someone that a) should not have been traveling in the first place with such a horrible medical condition, b) should have sought another hospital, or c) - no, wait, yeah, just a) and b) is all I need.

    Not saying I don't feel bad for her and the burden of grief her husband now has.

    But come on. They did what they could. She woman should have never been traveling.

    In the article it even says the woman drove with her husband to a different airport. How come she didn't take a pit stop at a dialysis clinic?

    She didn't trust any medical professionals in the country. The airlines even went out of their way to try to provide her with competitive airlines that could help.


    Wow were you there to know all of this?
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
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    When did obesity become a disability?

    She had those diseases because of her obesity

    Why should we have to accomodate this?

    Although I dont feel the airline is responsible for her death. I do have to add that like any addiction wether it is to food or alcohol it is indeed a disease. A disease of the mind. It's an addiction and food addiction happens to be the most difficult to break. If you see a person who is 300lb+ they are suffering from the disease of addcition that can eventually lead to crippling disability.
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