Remember when airlines claimed to make travel a "special" experience, even running ads like this on TV?

If you've flown anywhere in the last ten years, you know those days are over and this is what flying is like now.It isn't pretty. It isn't easy. And it's harder if you have any kind of a disability. Yes, there are laws that provide protection and help for disabled flyers like 14 CFR Part 382 , which provides for nondiscrimination on the basis of disability in air travel, but the laws are only as good as the airline employees who have to follow and enforce them. More often than not, the airlines are aware of the laws and do their best to follow them. But when airline employees don't follow the rules, things can go horribly wrong.

American And US Airways, Together

I bought my ticket on American Airlines , and as it turns out, the flights I was taking were operated by US Airways , the company that recently " merged " with American. As soon as I made the reservation for this trip, I contacted both American Airlines, who I bought the ticket from, and US Airways, who was operating the flights. I let them both know that I am legally blind, would need wheelchair assistance getting to the gate because it's sometimes hard for me to see signs in some airports and would need to sit near the front of the plane because I have problems navigating the aisles and can't see the signs above the rows. When I got to the airport in St. Louis for the first leg of my flight the term SSR (airline talk for Special Service Request ) was on my tickets and the people at the US Airways ticket counter knew that I had special needs. The gate agent and flight attendant on that flight were very helpful and made sure that I was able to find my way and get everything I needed. That's the way things are supposed to work under the Air Carrier Access Act









When I got to Philadelphia , I was quickly taken to my departure gate and I checked in with the gate agent to let them know I was there and had special needs. They found me on the manifest and said they would let me pre-board and take care of me on board. They did let me pre-board, but mispronounced my name so I had to go after a few other people. When I got on the plane, I was unable to introduce myself to the flight attendant because she was looking away from the door doing something in the galley. I always try to identify myself when I get on a plane. However, this time I was not able to. To make a very long story short, I had to go back about four rows behind my seat in order to find an overhead compartment to stow my suitcase as the one above my seat was already taken. During the flight, the flight attendant never approached or acknowledged me as having special needs.

This is when things went wrong, really wrong.

Not my actual bag When the flight landed in Boston, I let people who were rushing to deplane get off the plane and found a break in the line that I could use to go back and get my suitcase. I got it out of the bin facing towards the back of the airplane. I turned around with the suitcase and tripped on the leg of a seat, which I could not see. I fell on my knees and my hands and it hurt quite a bit on my knees. The flight attendant was probably five rows ahead of me and she did not do anything to help me, didn't even walk towards me or ask if I needed help. When I got myself up, I realized that my leg was bleeding and I told her that she hadn't done her job because I had an SSR and she didn't look out for me. She claimed she never saw an SSR for me. I explained that there was one on my first flight and that the



I walked down the Jetway with my pants covered with blood and my leg bleeding. The gate agent was a CRO and I told him what happened. His immediate response was "what do you want"? I told him I wanted my pants replaced, to fly home on a different airline, and a full refund of my ticket price. According to the ACAA, he had the authority to resolve the problem on the spot, and I wanted to clear things up as soon as I could. the When the flight landed in Boston, I let people who were rushing to deplane get off the plane and found a break in the line that I could use to go back and get my suitcase. I got it out of the bin facing towards the back of the airplane. I turned around with the suitcase and tripped on the leg of a seat, which I could not see. I fell on my knees and my hands and it hurt quite a bit on my knees. The flight attendant was probably five rows ahead of me and she did not do anything to help me, didn't even walk towards me or ask if I needed help. When I got myself up, I realized that my leg was bleeding and I told her that she hadn't done her job because I had an SSR and she didn't look out for me. She claimed she never saw an SSR for me. I explained that there was one on my first flight and that the Gate Agent saw it, so she must not have looked very hard. I told her I wanted to speak to the captain about the situation and I wanted her to come off the plane with me so we could reported to the CRO (Complaints Resolution Official) on duty. She refused to leave the plane and when she asked the captain what to do he said he didn't know. In fairness to her, a flight attendant isn't supposed to deplane while passengers are on board, but she didn't even come off to follow up with me or the gate agent once the plane had emptied out.I walked down the Jetway with my pants covered with blood and my leg bleeding. The gate agent was a CRO and I told him what happened. His immediate response was "what do you want"? I told him I wanted my pants replaced, to fly home on a different airline, and a full refund of my ticket price. According to the ACAA, he had the authority to resolve the problem on the spot, and I wanted to clear things up as soon as I could. the Massport EMTs were called to look over the bleeding knee, examined me, they cleaned it up, and applied a bandage to it. They asked me if I wanted to go to the hospital, and I declined but asked them to file a report of the problem for the record.

My leg and pants after EMT's cleaned me up



The male CRO (whose name tag I couldn't see so I don't have his name) was very helpful in re booking me on another airline for my return home and having a check drawn for $40 to help pay for my pants. (I haven't done anything with the check because the whole situation is still not settled) However, we were not able to agree on the refund of my entire ticket price. He said that the reason that wasn't possible is I was technically still traveling and that a refund couldn't be processed until I returned. On a number of occasions, he said that refund would probably show up on Friday May 1st. Later on, it was made clear to me that a refund would probably be out of the question. I reminded this gentleman and a lady who was helping him named Heleine Delalue that he had agreed to that refund and then he needed to find out who could get it done. They called the station manager, the person who oversees US Airways operations in Boston, and his response was the same, that I would have to deal with Customer Relations after my travels were over to try to get the refund.







USAirways:American CRO Report 042815 Copy by Mark Edwards



I posted quite liberally on social media about my injury. Here are some of the first posts. You might want to open the



When I fly, I usually ask for assistance because I don't see very well. I asked USAirways for the same assistance on...

Posted by Mark Edwards on Tuesday, April 28, 2015 Fell getting off @USAirways plane in #BOS . So much for these pants. Flight Att saw me fall and just stood there. pic.twitter.com/QG0jQF5B5M April 28, 2015

Trying to get the situation resolved I received a call from a gentleman in American Airlines customer relations the next day, Wednesday, saying that he had seen my social media posts and wanted to talk about the situation to me. I asked if he was calling because I had filed a complaint at the airport, and he said no, it was only because of my social media activities. I explained to him that the outstanding issue was the fact that I wanted to be reimbursed for the full amount of my plane ticket. He told me that he would have to check into that and we get back to me in the next day or so. I asked him to get back to me by the end of business on May 1st, because I wanted this situation resolved, over and done with. In writing this, it is 3:22PM on May 3rd and I have heard nothing else from American Airlines Customer Relations despite many Facebook posts and tweets to their social media team. I could tell we had done all that we could do, so after about 3 hours of activities after I fell, I was put in a cab and sent to my hotel. Later that night, I received the CRO's report to the airline, posted below.As you can plainly see about halfway down the page, there's a question "Did a violation occur?" The CRO checked "YES", meaning that the airline had violated the ACAA. In other words, he admitted that his company broke the law.I posted quite liberally on social media about my injury. Here are some of the first posts. You might want to open the Facebook post to see the reaction I got. Sorry the same photo is repeated.I received a call from a gentleman in American Airlines customer relations the next day, Wednesday, saying that he had seen my social media posts and wanted to talk about the situation to me. I asked if he was calling because I had filed a complaint at the airport, and he said no, it was only because of my social media activities. I explained to him that the outstanding issue was the fact that I wanted to be reimbursed for the full amount of my plane ticket. He told me that he would have to check into that and we get back to me in the next day or so. I asked him to get back to me by the end of business on May 1st, because I wanted this situation resolved, over and done with. In writing this, it is 3:22PM on May 3rd and I have heard nothing else from American Airlines Customer Relations despite many Facebook posts and tweets to their social media team.









I found out that the flight was actually operated by Republic Airways , I left messages for their senior management on Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon I get a call back from Julie Moser , their customer service director and I asked her for the name of the flight attendant. She would not give it to me. She was under the impression that I was ready to file a personal injury lawsuit and I explained to her that I did indeed mention that at the airport because it was an option but I have not decided whether to exercise it or not. She claimed that American Airlines turned my case over to her because of the threat of a lawsuit and that her airline would have to shoulder the burden of that situation. I explained that I had not decided what action I was going to take at that point, but I did want the name of the flight attendant for my records. She said she would get back to her counterpart an American Airlines and see what they can do to get this situation behind us.