A passenger who suffers from multiple sclerosis has accused Delta of lacking compassion and accommodation after she was tied to a wheelchair in Amsterdam with a “used” blanket.
Look at this picture that Maria Saliagas’s son posted to his Facebook account—
It’s heart-wrenching to see another human being appear to be in such agony.
Saliagas was diagnosed with MS five years ago, but still travels to Europe every year with her husband. The Atlanta resident usually flies nonstop on Delta and claims that in years past, Delta has always provided a “proper wheelchair” that feature straps, allowing her to sit up straight.
But when they arrived in Amsterdam earlier this month, there was no special wheelchair available. Instead, a ground service worker improvised by placing Saliagas in a standard wheelchair then using an airline blanket to “tie her up”, thus making her secure.
According to Saliagas’ son (per the Atlanta Journal Constitution):
They took a dirty blanket and tied her forcefully with it, and she has bruise marks on part of her arm because it was so tight and she started crying. That’s when that picture was taken.
Delta has offered the family 20,000 miles in compensation, something Saliagas believes is insufficient. Saliagas does not appear intent on suing Delta, but does want Delta’s policy updated on how it handles passengers with special needs.
In a written statement, Delta did not apologize, but promised to ensure the return flight will be smoother:
We regret the perception our service has left on these customers. We have reached out to them, not only to resolve their concerns, but also ensure that their return flight exceeds expectations.
In Defense of Delta
This is a difficult issue, as is the greater MS issue that Saliagas now battles. Every passenger deserves to be treated with dignity and every reasonable accommodation should be extended to those passengers with special needs.
Here, however, I feel Delta gets an unfairly bad rap. Perhaps the flight manifest did not specify that a special type of wheelchair was needed. Perhaps one was available, but would have taken an hour or two to secure after landing and this make-shift solution proved more tenable. On the one hand, the bruise marks are terrible. On the other hand, had Saliagas not been properly secured and suffered an accident, the situation would be far worse. Was this the best option of many bad ones?
CONCLUSION
I think Delta tried to accommodate. It’s not like she was hog-tied in disgust. Hopefully Delta will do better on the return and Saliagas can travel to Europe for many years.
photo courtesy of Nathan Saliagas
>Here, however, I feel Delta gets an unfairly bad wrap.
This is either an unfortunate typo or the eorld’s worst pun (rap/wrap)… 😉
And yes, I appreciate the irony of a typo in a sarcastic post about typos. That’s what I get for trying to be clever…
You just don’t restrain people like that., And that’s what this makeshift was, and the kind of restraint hospitals cannot use anymore because if the person slides down in the chair, they can choke and die, and this has happened. There are very strict rules about restraining patients in a hospital setting and for non medical personal to do this is totally outrageous!
This is just plain wrong. Delta slipped up big time on this.
Speaking of unnecessary and cruel indignities suffered by the handicapped during travel, yesterday at LAX I was in the TSA-Pre line behind a woman in a wheelchair pushed by her companion (husband?) who told the TSA martinets upon reaching the metal detector that they needed a female checker. The sound of his voice as he resignedly “requested” the mandatory manual check that he knew would be a miserable experience, as well as the sight of the handicapped woman waiting to suffer the special indignity of a manual search, made me both extremely sad for what they must go through to travel, and angry at such an incompassionate and absurd security theater perpetrated against the US traveling public generally, but wheelchair bound people in particular.
Hi, I travel with a family member who has MS and appears to be at the same level.
They’re in Europe… what did they expect? Handicap assistance is neither as regulated as in the US nor as cared about in general. Which I think is perfectly fine.
She had MS when they got on the plane. How do you come so unprepared that you rely on everything going exactly right on the other side of the world? If they’ve been doing this awhile, they’re not very good at it.
Instead of helping, the son let her sit there in pain and decided to take a photo. Yep, checks out. Looking for sympathy when none is deserved.
When I travel, I bring my own chair because I need it when I get there. When walking short distances, I used airline ones but could move to a regular chair if something was up. The kind of chair she is in is typical of airlines. Now as a former nurse ans6an ms sufferer, I am betting they were complaining about the chair and how she wanted a kind with straps etc, none available, someone offered to tie her and got consent before doing it not knowing better…,,now she and family are irritated and trying to make a spectacle. Seriously her husband should know what to do as it’s not their first time. I have zero blame for airline in this situation
I’m sorry but at what point does common sense say that someone with a severe medical condition or disability not expect perfect treatment when flying? If you’re so disabled then maybe you need to consider not flying. I know that sounds harsh, but at some point you just have to say, “No.”
Does anyone READ anymore?……..the moron that mishandled her was a vendored, third-party, airport employee – NOT SOMEONE WHO WORKED FOR OR REPRESENTED DELTA. The airlines dumped their own employees as wheelchair pushers, janitors, maintenance people and baggage handlers a long time ago leaving all the grunt/ janitorial work to low-level airport employees hired by a third-party vendor. They don’t work for Delta or any other airline, they work for XYZ cheapest bidder services company.
“We regret the perception our service has left” Are you kidding me?! I’m well aware of the obscene arrogance of delta in everything they do, but that is just beyond the pale. Might as well have said “Don’t blame us, it’s your fault you have MS.” Although this won’t get picked up by the news and the delta apologists will just say it was a vendor so I’m not sure why I bother.
Ayurvedic Treatment has been a game-changer for managing my MS symptoms. Since incorporating it into my routine, I’ve experienced reduced pain, increased energy levels, no more blurry vision and a noticeable improvement in my overall well-being I usually get the Ayurveda from natural herbs centre on google search, they guided me through the journey of getting better. I know I’ll get negative comments but I can vouch for this Ayurvedic treatments but you still need to decide what works best for you. Sending prayers