Paz Orquiza United Airlines 94 year old disabled passenger moved from business class seat to coach after airline carrier refused to accommodate frail and disabled woman.
Making the rounds is another horror story that United Airways customers have had to endure at the hands of the avarice US carrier, this time including disabled frail, Australian 94 year old disabled passenger, Paz Orquiza.
According to the woman’s family, United forced the frail grandmother out of her business seat she’d paid for on her flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne to sit in economy during the 16 hour flight.
The move came after the airline carrier refused to accommodate Paz’s daughter, Rose Benedicto who’d paid for an economy seat and had volunteered to assist with Paz’s needs during the course of the flight as her mother sat up ahead in business class.
Paz told relatives via the UK’s mirror has severe arthritis and a degenerative bone condition in the neck.
Asked if United would intercede instead on Paz’s daughter behalf, the airline carrier said the best they could do was place the frail woman next to her daughter, Rose, in coach.
Never mind the fact that family had shelled out over $3600 for Paz expressly so she could enjoy the comforts of business class and avoid being compromised in coach.
The incident led to Paz’s granddaughter, Marianne Santos Aguilar taking to Facebook.
Wrote the woman in part last month: ‘My aunt tried to comfort my grandmother, who was in tears, and was horrified to see how much pain she had to endure during this flight.
‘Upon arrival to Australia, my grandma’s legs had swollen, she suffered from a stiff neck and her whole body ached.
‘She is still in great distress and pain from this ordeal.’
Marianne added that the Air Carrier Access Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in air travel and requires air carriers to accommodate the needs of passengers with disabilities.
For their troubles, the family were given $500 in travel vouchers – but say they will not use them – along with a refund of $860.
She added: ‘Humanity and compassion are lacking with this airline, who only cares about their bottom line.
‘My aunt was told by another passenger that grandma’s original seat was given to someone willing to pay for an upgraded seat.’
In an update on Monday, Paz’s granddaughter added that her grandmother had suffered pains for a week, and that they ‘still haven’t received our refund and it has been over 2 months.’
The latest news of United Airlines being called out for unsympathetic behavior and treatment towards passengers comes after the airline carrier had a billion dollars wiped off its value at one point after a video of a doctor being dragged off a flight so airline staff could have a seat went viral.
Dr David Dao, 69, was seen with blood pouring from his mouth after being physically hauled off the overbooked flight.
#flythefriendlyskies @united no words. This poor man!! pic.twitter.com/rn0rbeckwT
— Kaylyn Davis (@kaylyn_davis) April 10, 2017
And then there were these comments on the web that caught my eye, see what you think?
‘If Paz’s family couldn’t afford or were willing to buy two business class seats, why expect cabin crew to become personal carers…?’
‘Sounds like Mrs Orquiza’s daughter Rose was trying to scam a business class seat for herself.’
‘It was the family’s choice to move her but the cabin crew should have helped the lady.’
‘The airline did not send the lady to economy, the lady’s family moved her to economy because they weren’t able to sit with her in business to assist her. This isn’t on the airline, it’s on her family.’
‘I have been a passenger in many different airlines and have always received excellent customer service. Maybe United need to send their staff to any other airline for retraining?’
‘The granny got off lightly…usually United beat you up to a pulp!’
