Oregon autistic removed from plane

[caojyn]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/05/1...d-off-united-flight-due-to-autistic-daughter/

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Autistic girl kicked off plane, family to sue

An Oregon mother has claimed that her family was forced to leave a United Airlines flight last week due to a misunderstanding involving their autistic daughter.

Donna Beegle told KPTV that her family was flying back to Oregon from a Disney World vacation this past Tuesday when her 15-year-old daughter, Juliette, began to get hungry during a layover in Houston.

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"I asked the flight attendant if they had anything hot, because Juliette is very particular about her food," Beegle told the station. "If it's warm she won't eat it, if it's cold she won't eat it, it has to have steam rolling off of it."

Beegle says the attendant told her that warm meals could only be served to first class passengers.

"The flight attendant said, 'There's not anything we can get you,' so I said, 'Well, how about we wait for her to have a meltdown, and start crying and she tries to scratch, and then you'll want to help her.'"

After Juliette began to fuss, Beegle says the attendant brought her a meal as requested, and her daughter calmed down. However, that was not the end of the matter.

The plane made an emergency landing in Salt Lake City, and Beegle says police walked on board to take her family off the plane.

"Police officers said 'We have to ask you to leave the plane,'" said Beegle. "I asked them 'Why?' and they said, 'The captain doesn't feel comfortable flying to Portland with your daughter on the flight.'"

"People were shouting, 'Leave her alone, let her go, there's no issue here,'" she added.

The incident was captured on video by another passenger. Beegle confirmed the video's authenticity to KGW.



"After working to accommodate Dr. Beegle and her daughter during the flight, the crew made the best decision for the safety and comfort of all of our customers and elected to divert to Salt Lake City after the situation became disruptive," United Airlines said in a statement to KPTV. "We rebooked the customers on a different carrier and the flight continued to Portland."

Beegle said she has filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration and is suing United in the hope of requiring all flight attendants to undergo training in dealing with autistic passengers.

“I don't want anyone else to experience that, no one,” said Beegle. “My heart feels heavy from that, I'm still reeling from the emotion of how my daughter was treated.”

 

[KOPBET]

Geez, don't they have a tazer and duct tape on board?

 

[RidgeHunter]

Meh. Two sides to ever story. I have several flight attendant friends. People are unimaginably ****** to them.

Maybe the girls mom shouldn't have made a veiled threat to the flight crew? "Wait till she has a meltdown and starts scratching..." if that's how mom herself recounts it, wonder how she actually said it?

I'd want them off the plane, too. Mainly mom. People think flying on an airplane is a right or something. How many posts until we have someone who thinks businesses should be allowed to refuse service to gays, but that a pilot shouldn't be allowed to refuse to fly a disruptive passenger? Lawl.

Less than two hundred years ago it took half a year and half your family's lives to get to Oregon. Sit your ass down for 4.5 hours and stop being spoiled American bitches.

-Dear Abby

 

[Okie4570]

Did you play Oregon Trail on the desktop? The trip to the Willamette Valley was a perilous journey.

 

[caojyn]

Who wants to bet they used her autism to cut the lines at Disney world

 

[338Shooter]

It takes about 28 hours to complete the Oregon trail from Oklahoma by motorized carriage.

Longer by bike.

 

[Glocktogo]

The captain has ultimate authority over these decisions. However, the captain rarely ever leaves the cockpit to determine the issue themselves, due to post 9/11 security concerns. Their decisions are only as good as the information they're provided.

I've investigated legitimate security/safety concerns with passengers. I've also investigated what we ultimately label "customer service issues", which usually result from people with bad attitudes coming into contact with flight attendants with bad attitudes.

I'm of two minds on this one. First, airline customer service personnel need quality training on dealing with special needs passengers. Most of their training is purely perfunctory and designed to defend the airline against complaints.

Second, airlines like United have areas when booking to list any special needs requirements. Mom should've registered those needs upon booking, which would've been listed on the paperwork associated with that flight. Some of these requests trigger additional fees, so flight attendants are well acquainted with passengers who either feign special needs, or have actual special needs but want to dodge the associated fees.

One other option mom had was to purchase 1st class tickets, or do a last minute upgrade if available. I wouldn't automatically assume her complaint is valid without knowing all the associated facts. It's a shame her special needs daughter had to suffer as a result though.

 

[Oklahomabassin]

They should have kicked mom off and let the girl and her father continue.

 

[Shootin 4 Fun]

Get the kid a hot meal in Houston????

 

[Coded-Dude]

If somebody is willing to buy a meal....why deny it? You'd think the airline would be happy to charge the mother an exorbitant fee for serving a hot meal to her daughter. Although I do agree, if she wanted special treatment(first class meal with non first class ticket) she could have attempted to make arrangements before boarding the flight.

STOP AIRLINE CLASS WARFARE NOW! /sarcasm