What is Digg?Sponsored by Travelzoo
Take Advantage of Ridiculously Low Holiday Airfares view!
travelzoo.com - Flights $52 and up for Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year. But move on it now.
93 Comments
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -9/+157This is suspicious. Did anyone really read the article? No where in this article was Richard Brown's life under threat. An airline's policy is that if someone takes up more than 2 seats from size, they need to pay for 2 tickets. There's no way pass that policy unless someone else pays for the ticket. I don't get the statement about him 'freezing' by the gate?
I'm also suspicious about the statement that the Mayo Clinic refused him a liver. It doesn't make sense. The transplant system doesn't work that way. The donor system works in regions and you don't fly all over the place to get a liver. Either he was matched to a donor or he wasn't. Either he's in the transplant program or not. I don;t understand why he was referred to UC of San Francisco.
Final statement from the article, "Once an airline accepts the responsibility of allowing a passenger to travel, it is their responsibility to get the passenger home. Southwest appears not to care whether the passenger be alive or dead during his transit home."
That's a stupid statement. The airline is a taxi service. If you end up in Vegas with no money, they don't have any obligations to give you a free ride. - Akaji, on 10/12/2007, -2/+59@geodescent: "You still have another liver, probably." O RLY?
Last time I checked, unless you were birthed next to a radioactive waste dumpsite, you've got only one liver. - jaredbelch, on 10/12/2007, -9/+36Very sad, although I think it's great the other Southwest employee paid for the ticket out of her own pocket, shows that the entire company isn't without a heart.
- dneven, on 10/12/2007, -20/+45Southwest is not responsible for the financial situation and chronic medical condition of every passenger. A Southwest employee even paid for the ticket eventually and the family is still trying to criticize the airline.
Where does this family's sense of entitlement end? It probably won't end after the government pays several hundred thousand dollars for the liver transplant or after the government continues to support this person's living expenses through disability payments. In what other country does a stranger buy you a airline ticket, the government pays for your living expenses and for an organ transplant (for a condition you could have contracted from illicit drug use) and you are still mad as hell that you are victim. This person should be thankful for what they have and stop trying to blame others to get more. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+29The water retention(ascites) is due to the severe lack of protein in your blood from the liver failure leading to heart failure and the leakage of fluid into the skins and abdomen. It can be life threatening so I'm not demeaning his disease but the story doesn't make sense.
- nmrk, on 10/12/2007, -6/+29There isn't one shred of evidence that this story ever happened. It's all a rumor. Oh.. I note that since this article originally circulated, they put up an alleged screenshot of an email from Southwest Airlines, how easy is that to fake?
If your liver is failing and you're bloated and unstable, you belong in an air ambulance, not an airline. Airlines actually have regulations that they're not allowed to transport passengers who have critical medical conditions. - Dakart, on 10/12/2007, -8/+23So wait... He's on his last dying breath and his daughter is in Japan? I'd be pissed if I was on the verge of death and my daughter wouldn't even come to see me.
Plus, if this was real, the liver would come to him, not the other way around.
FAKE - jasmus, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17This is an unfortunate situation, but there's several sides to this and I won't pretend to know or understand all of them enough to judge anyone of these people.
Just a thought: Would we have seen an article about the person selling the tickets that got fired for allowing him to take up the two seats without charging for the second seat? - disillusioned, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17From the Consumerist comments: "SW is trying to pack in as many seats as they can to maximum capacity for the bottom line."
I call ***** on this. I've flown PLENTY of Southwest flights, followed immediately by PLENTY of coach United, USAirways and ATA flights. The latter ALL cram me in, with less leg room, ***** quality cloth seats, and horrible service.
Southwest is generally VERY friendly, straightforward, and one of the more comfortable coach flights (though lacking the entertainment accoutrements of JetBlue, say) around. They're also dirt cheap.
I'm also "large" but definitely not two-seats large. My father was, though, and while it may have pissed him off, and I haven't asked his opinion of this, *I* have had the displeasure of sitting next to people who leak through their seat onto mine. I have paid for my seat, therefore, I have rights to the entirety of that seat. To skinny people: unless you can cram a second person in your seat with you safely, you don't get a discount.
This was a unique experience, and the gate agent was an *****. That much is true.
But why is no one making any more mention of the employee who went out of HER way to PERSONALLY pay for this man's second ticket? She went above and beyond, even though it wasn't properly escalated as I'm sure people were panicking.
Furthermore, I have experienced tragic situations before in the past. (My grandfather died as I was sitting ON the plane at the gate, doors had just shut and I received a cell phone call from my father, telling me to get off immediately. I pinged a stewardess, she alarmed the cockpit and had the jetway re-extended. They apologized profusely, and had my fare refunded and offered to help with anything I needed to reassign to fly for the funeral.)
These people are traditionally good-spirited, kind, accommodating and friendly, and for the sins of one nasty gate agent (atoned for, some might say, by a VERY selfless, OTHER gate agent, completely removed from the situation), Southwest should not be completely chastized.
They work EXTREMELY hard to keep their customers happy. This is evident in their general temperament and usual kindness. I think it's a bad rap, and it was a ***** scenario, and this guy should be severely reprimanded and/or fired as a result, given the circumstances, but again, NOT indicative of the Southwest experience on the whole. They've change a great deal over the past 10 years, and people who think they're the "Wal-mart of airlines" clearly haven't flown Delta or USAirways recently. - Rivetgeek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13From the article:
"...He has an appointment with the University of San Francisco during the first week of February, so hopefully they will take him as a transplant recipient. Fingers are crossed, as we are really down to our last straw."
This is *****. That's not how organ transplants are done. You don't just decide you need a transplant and then go shopping for one and making appointments. If you are told you need a transplant by a doctor, that doctor puts you on a waiting list with that regional transplant list based on immediate need and availability of compatible donors. Once you are in the top ten of the list, you are on 24 hour a day on-call. Meaning they could call you at 3am and tell you to get to the hospital for surgery right then. This whole traipsing around the country makes me think that for some reason (such as ongoing drug use) he was found to be unsuitable for transplantation and tried to skirt the system by flying to Arizona and they rightly told him to ***** off.
How do I know this? My sister has a transplanted lung due to cystic fibrosis. They told her she needed a lung, they called her when it was ready, they stuck it in her. All done at the same hospital that told her she needed a transplant. - theragu40, on 10/12/2007, -14/+24Not only is the story a little suspicious, but honestly? If I was dying I don't think I'd be in any shape to quibble over whether I had to buy another seat or not. Just buy it and go. Sure the ticket attendant should have given in, but honestly I don't think money is a concern that trumps death.
- Fragalishus, on 10/12/2007, -9/+19Yeah I call shenanigans. Guy was obviously overweight to begin with, because I'd be very surprised if you could retain enough water to suddenly balloon up to needing 2 seats. If you take up 2 seats, you need to pay for both of them. Not to mention if you're close to dying of liver failure, you should have been looking for a liver a long time ago, not at the last minute. Whole story reeks of BS.
I fly Southwest at least once a month from Dallas to Houston. The staff is just like any other airline, or any other people for that matter. Most are extemely nice, a few are real *****. But there's more to this story, I'm sure. - turbophoto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10There are 3 problems with this article:
1. If the man's health was endangered, he should have immediately chosen to go to the emergency room, or at least the nearest hospital. This man wasn't truly in a state of emergency if he went to the airport instead.
2. It is unlikely that a sudden liver failure caused so much weight gain that a normal size man suddenly became twice the size- or enough to take up two seats. He was likely overweight to begin with.
3. If it was so important to fly, why didn't he buy the extra ticket? Again, his health condition must not have been that critical. And don't try to pull the 'I couldn't afford it' excuse. The man could already afford to travel. There are numerous ways to buy something if someone were determined enough and if indeed there was a life threatening situation- which this one clearly wasn't.
>Richard Brown nearly died on Sunday, January 21st, thanks to reckless indifference by a Southwest Airlines ticket agent.
What a load of bull. If the writer's tone of this 'news' post has any relation to the man's attitude himself, then I would guess he's a complainer. He probably uses his weight as an excuse to whine and attempt to get special services. I don't believe this article has any credibility. No digg. - megaloid, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12File this in Digg's ever-growing "Banality of Evil" section.
- Soldan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9I am not sure about the care of liver patients...but I am on the transplant list for a kidney. There are organizations that pay for and help make travel arrangements for patients..
It is very possible the the liver at the mayo clinic might not be in good enough condition to be usable the story does not specifiy...however all transplant appointments are pretty much last minute.. and more often than not the organ come available around holidays.
I would imagine that in any case.. airlines would have a policy to accommodate disabled listees to the extent that they would most like not quibble till after the trip at a later date.
if this story is true I am sure liver paitient organizations will deal with it..
I am sure I will find out when my number comes up in a few years... i currently live 2 hours from the transplant unit.. so it is very possible I may end up flying... - halik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Somethign smells really fishy about the story ... transplant lists are regional and you certainly don't freeze at the gate. Also I have yet to see a dying person fly on their own expense.
Twenty bucks says this is just an attention grab. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11"Finally, a Southwest Airlines agent in Dallas paid for Richard's ticket herself."
I love Southwest. - Sfmobius, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I'm all for sympathy however, this story is beyond suspicious, it reaks of being a total fabrication by a disgruntled passenger.
1) A person that sick would NOT be able to fly. Nor would SW have let someone in such a critical condition board the plane, regardless of weight.
2) This is not a new policy w/SW or any of the major airlines. How is it fair that you get to take up two seats for the price of one? I, for one, do not wish to be on an airline next to someone so sick nor do I wish to sit next to someone so big they can't fit in one seat.
3) Why is this news? HMO's let 1000's die every year by only covering the bare minimums of medical treatment. I don't see anyone crying about their heinous behavior.
I won't even go into "what if it were true" because it is so full of holes anyone with half a brain can see it is a farce. - Lone_Wolf, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7I'm with you dneven Southwest is not responsible for the condition of the people on board their planes. Sounds to me that he shouldn't be flying anyway from the condition he is in. Transplants are normally flown to the patient not the other way around. I've been flying with Southwest for years and have never had any problems and the people that work for them have the best personalities, it sounds fake to me because i know for a fact that they wouldn't hire someone like that in the first place. Southwest is the best airline of the group right now and will always be because of the way they treat their passengers. They would have never treat someone like that
- benjaminrayburn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6"SW is trying to pack in as many seats as they can to maximum capacity for the bottom line."
Yep, that's bs. The 737 made its first flight on April 9 1967; coach seating configuration: 3 isle 3; exactly the same as it is today. Boeing has increased the seating capacity of the 737 by making the jet longer, not adding seats per row. If those seats look narrower than they did 40 years ago, look at your waist size.
Also, where is the evidence that the man "nearly died"? Was some lifesaving medical attention prevented while he waited? Did he miss his transplant appointment? I guess "Southwest Lets Liver Transplant Patient Wait Before Employee Buys Him 2nd Ticket" is not as good a headline. - MasterGohring, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Isn't this story a urban myth or urban legend?
- fatdog789, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Agreed. The Consumerist seems to be more about getting pageviews than revealing actual news.
In fact, out of the 6 stories that have made the front page from their site in the past 2 weeks, all 6 of them have been proven false. That's a 0% track record.
From now on, the Consumerist gets marked spam. Or inaccurate. Depends on my mood. - theuber1337, on 10/12/2007, -7/+12@theragu40
I sincerely doubt anyone in that financial situation would have credit. So no, he was in a spot of trouble, if you can't afford it you can't afford it.. there is no way around that.
@geodescent
You really have no idea what you're talking about do you? - Quadraginta, on 10/12/2007, -6/+10Christ, yes. There's NO WAY a commercial airline could legally allow someone "dying" to fly. They are in no way equipped to take that kind of medical responsibility while airborne. Hence, if the guy could fly at all, he wasn't dying, not nearly.
Secondly, I'm blown away by the whiny narcissism of thinking it's Southwest's problem to provide a free airline ticket to the guy. I mean, what would his airline ticket cost? According to the story, about $500. We're supposed to believe a guy who wants to get a liver transplant -- an operation that itself costs $100,000, not to mention the thousands of dollars of drugs he'd have to take for the rest of his life -- can't find $500 to "save his life"?
Give me a break. I can't think of anyone I've ever met not living in an actual cardboard box under a bridge who couldn't scratch up $500 if his life very literally depended on it. Sell your clothes, car, bike, CDs, furniture, borrow $50 from 10 friends, work from home stuffing envelopes, whatever.
Seems to me very clear this is a case of using your own poor health to guilt-trip other people into giving you stuff for free, because you don't want to work for it. That's disgusting. I'm glad Southwest didn't give him a free ticket, which I'd have to pay part of next time I flew them. Guy won't trouble to save up $500 from his disability to cover some teeny part of his medical costs (I'm sure I'm paying for his transplant, via taxes or my own health insurance premiums) -- well, to heck with him. - yeastbeast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Perhaps not fake, but certainly overblown and potentially dishonest. The whole story sounds like a disgruntled customer's exaggerated nightmare melodrama. A few things ring false... what's with the Mayo clinic shenanigans? Moreover, University of San Francisco is an Jesuit undergraduate college.... it's UC San Francisco (my alma mater :) ) that does the liver transplants.
This seems like a downside to the Digg effect... public outrage and mass hysteria can be instantly conjured up regardless of the veracity of the claims. In this respect, this isn't very different from how right wing hate radio works. - Soldan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4true, normally the folks in the most immediate need are taken first as well.. i would not imagine the guy going to the mayo clinic just for giggles however...I have only been on list for 6 months.
this is a poorly written article..nuff said.. generally i would hope tranportation companies would give the benefit of the doubt... as i had mentioned before the first person to call is the transplant coordinator or even a social worker..
has this been on a main stream media outlet...? that would give more credibility...at least make everything clearer... - jerbaker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The bottom line is that if a person occupies two seats they need to pay for two seats. It doesn't matter if it's because they have an inability to stop their hands from shoving Twinkies into their mouths, or whether it's due to a medical condition. This is the entitlement mentality you hear so much about. Just because this man's size is due to a medical condition it means Southwest owes him a free seat? WTF?
- raybury, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7People are starving. You work in a grocery store or restaurant as a stockboy or busboy. Do you make the determination to give away free food? In fact many such establishments, whether megacorporations or mom-and-pops, do contribute to charity, and their taxes help pay for government assistance to people like this. But, such help does not come from low-level employees responding to people who walk in the front door looking for a handout. It may have been beyond the purview of this gate agent to extend generosity -- his job after all is to sell tickets, and Southwest and the press have made no secret of their policy on larger passengers. Could he have gone further? Perhaps. But traveling for a liver transplant sounds fishy, and people complain about their "medical conditions" all the time; not all of them deserve credence.
- shark615, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4"Couldn't have happened through eating some sort of contaminated food, water, etc"
You CANNOT get Hep C through contamited water. It is a blood borne disease and can only be transfered as such. Sex, IV drugs and on the outside tattoo parlours and cut to cut transmission. The majority of cases are through sex and drugs.
You can get Hep A and B through contaminated but NOT Hep C. - ellisgl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Please do not take this the wrong way. I'm only looking for answers that may not be able to be answered.
How long before he booked his ticket? How long was it before he was prohibited till he finally got on a plane and till he landed?
This is my personally opinion: I like road trips. That trip in a car should take 15 hours at the most with the rest stops. I like the trip on 10 and 40. I'm from Cali, I live in Texas - but that trip really means a lot to me. If you traveled that way year after year and see what has been changed - you'll know what I mean. It give me sadness yet gives me hope. I know the persons conditions was bad - but it think he would have been better than trying to fly. While it might have been cheaper, might have been better for him. - bigtallmofo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I flew on a flight from Honolulu, HI to St. Louis, MO once next to a woman that was so obese that she couldn't even sit within the handles of the seat so she sat on top of them.
I had her butt blubber hanging onto me the entire flight. It was ridiculous. To add insult to injury, she walked on the plane with 3 Burger King Whoppers in a bag that she consumed in the first 20 minutes she was on the flight. This despite the fact they served a full meal during the 8 hour flight.
I don't care why you're fat, buy two seats. He or his daughter (who bought him the ticket) should have read the terms and conditions when they bought the ticket. Take a bus if you can't afford to follow the airline rules. - oPoTyKaH, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I like Southwest Airlines
- estradin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I work on a major airline in southern Europe, and although airline policies are not the same, these kind of policies tend to be rather uniform, even across markets. Thus, I'd like to make a couple of things clear:
1) Passengers with severe medical conditions may be accepted into flights IF AND ONLY IF a medical report specifically states that flying is necessary for that person.
2) People with not-so-severe medical conditions are accepted into flights, but they ALWAYS need to pay for the extra space the may occupy. Thus, a person with a cast leg would need to book 3 seats in most airlines, or two seats if the aircraft has reversible seats.
3) The only people who receive special service at no extra charge are people in wheelchairs and blind people, and still the number of handicapped or blind passengers on the same flight is strictly restricted depending on the aircraft.
In Europe we haven't reached the point in which we have to force obese passengers to buy an extra seat, because it is not something you may encounter on a regular basis. Nonetheless we are told to "highly encourage" any passenger in such a situation to buy an "extra-seat for comfort". If an airline has a policy of requiring this extra seat arrangement for morbidly obese passengers, it needs to enforce it *each and every time*, otherwise they would be unfair. The passenger with the cast leg didn't choose to have a cast leg, so it doesn't matter why that man needs two seats: he needs to pay for both.
Also, I think the most interesting part of this greatly exaggerated story is Becky. Regardless of him being moribund or in perfect health, she offered to pay an extra seat for someone whom she hadn't seen and appeared to be in extreme need. That's amazing. - MacEagle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Please back up this statement with some facts. There has been only 1 fatality in their 35+ year history as an American air carrier. Can you say the same about Delta, American, or United?
- wonkavsn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yeah actually I gotta repent on that one.. when I looked at stats, I mistook them for NW. But even then, NWs rating isn't anywhere near American or United. NW simply had a high frequency of event from late 80s to mid 90s.
My mistake! - themicah, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6This has got to be BS - none of it makes sense. I bet what happened is that some fat Donnie got offended because the airline asked him to pay for two seats. Maybe he's sick - lots of dangerously overweight people are - and he figured he could use that as a crutch to help him avoid paying for another seat or to get a fat settlement from the airline. If he was a normal-sized human, there's no way a liver problem would bloat him up to the point where he had to take two seats on an airplane overnight. Yeah, the airlines squash the seats together so passengers are packed like sardines - but I live in Europe and fly home to the US quite frequently. Nothing is worse than getting seated next to some Cheeto-snarfing mouth breather who oozes over into your seat for the duration of an 8 hour flight. Sucks to be fat, but why should I pay the same price as someone who can't lay off the Whoppers? They banned smoking along similar lines - that smokers make the flight unpleasant and dangerous for other passengers - and the same goes for fatties as far as I'm concerned. I'm a smoker, and I cope - a day without a cigarette sure won't kill me faster than a day with them... Sorry to be "callous" and "banal", but how about people taking some responsibility for themselves rather than blaming everyone else for their problems?
- Tmacman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2
- warvette, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Saying you speak for all of us doens't make it so. I like my job at a so called "big business." You should try one...you never know...you could even donate your earnings to liver transplant patients. Win-Win.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -8/+10This is America..... so when is this going to court and how much is he suing for?
- 5hop4orce, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Rules are rules. Deal with it.
P.S.
Why do you think this article has so many diggs, when everyone in the comments is ripping into it? Because nobody reads the articles. Nobody even reads the comments--they just see a sensationalist headline and click "digg" like retarded little monkeys.
Bury this for the sake of the monkeys. They can't help themselves, so you have to help them. Prevent this article from misinforming the innocent retarded monkeys who can't help themselves!! Do it for world peace and to fight child sexual abuse!! - Soldan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3why do you need property? just get a tent and hike someplace... the US is filled with open space...
however keep your trading to a minimum that would a contribution to society..
we fall under the pyramid of needs. I suppose until you get to a point where you need something you will continue to have a pessimistic view... many insurance plans have lifetime limits which is why organization exist to help people...
the system failed this man.... more likely because he was unaware of all the processes to get transportation or whatever.. - warvette, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Nope...just don't feel like playing the violin again tonight. As mentioned previously...I'd pay for the extra seat...on a credit card. I wouldn't let a little bankruptcy get in the way of my oxygen habit.
If I set up a paypal account for cases like this would you be willing to sell your violin and contribute the proceeds to the cause?
That would be great.... - MacEagle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Unfortunately, a young boy was killed in Chicago last year when the aircraft skidded off the runway at Midway airport during a snow storm. Granted, he wasn't on the aircraft, but was parted of the overall incident.
- dorey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1MY favorite quote from this article : "Until finally, an agent in Dallas named Becky offered to pay for the ticket herself. All the while, Richard sat freezing wrapped in several blankets at the gate. The Southwest agent content to let him die in the boarding area." -- Do these consecutive sentences completely contradict each other? Becky is not content to let him die she payed for his ticket out of her pocket! Ridiculous article.
clanger's comment is very relevant, informative, and correct, so he shouldn't be dugg down. - vanmeir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Dugg down as being suspiciously one-sided, for the reasons stated by others above.
- kingygk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It could be possible if you fricken idiots with your Big Ass SUV's drive the speed limit. Every day I go to work I see SUVs lead footing all over the place. You must fill up every other day.
- kylebrothert, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1related:
A blog post from Kathy Gloria - Manager of Executive Office Customer Communications at Southwest: http://www.blogsouthwest.com/2007/01/25/an-unfortunate-event/
"We have seen several blog posts regarding a recent trip taken by one of our Southwest Customers who was asked to purchase an additional ticket in Phoenix for his return flight to Sacramento because he required more than one seat..." - Mikii, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1some peeps will do anything to zing SWA.. I love you Southwest f%*! the others. besides the story doesn't make sense. urban legend my a$$.
- sleze, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I agree. People who are too big or fat to fit into one seat(no matter why) should already understand that they need to buy a separate ticket.
To all the people that are "outraged" that someone is forced to buy a second seat. Have you ever had to sit next to someone too big for one seat? I think not. - estradin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well, as far as I know (since I don't write the rules) this number is restricted due to security reasons. Having a plane full of people in wheelchairs could prove fatal in the event of an emergency. Of course this is restricted only for people who cannot look for themselves. I don't think it covers people with crutches or deaf passengers. Anyway, in most aircraft that number is usually 10% of the total capacity of the aircraft. In a 717, an A320 or an MD-80 (pretty much the most common short-haul airliners) thats between 10 and 15 passengers. The probability of that maximum being reached is very low. In a long-haul flight the number can easily reach 18-23, so I don't think it's common for disabled people to find they can't buy a ticket for a flight because the disabled quota has been reached.
-
Show 51 - 93 of 93 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is