You know, when you first read that headline, you get irritated. I mean, of all the people to be an ass to, it’s someone who is internally fighting the fight of their life.
Korean Airlines denied a woman diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer a seat on a Seattle-to-South Korea flight because she looked too frail to fly.
Now you read this and think, “aww, that’s kind of sweet of them, looking out for her best interest and all.”
Of course, then you sit back and think about the wonderful caliber of people who take your ticket, scan it, and hand it back to you while muttering, “Enjoy your flight,” never once looking up … and these derelicts actually stopped her?
Let’s be fair, it could have been one of a bunch of people you deal with getting on a plane. But in all of the people I have dealt with, from checking in my bags to TSA to gate attendant, I have never, ever had anyone pay enough attention to me to care. If I was having a nervous breakdown (which I take Xanex to prevent when flying, thank you very much), I don’t know that they’d be paying enough attention to me to stop me from flying.
Crystal Kim had approval from two doctors and a note clearing her to fly over the weekend, according to KING5-TV, NBC News' local affiliate in Seattle. The carrier thought Kim might not be up for the long flight, Korean Air spokesperson Penny Pfaelzer said.
Now you land in super-pissed-off land. The woman had a doctor’s note, nay, two doctor’s notes clearing her to fly, but Korean Air, in all their infinite wisdom didn’t think that was good enough. Since when is Korean Air more medically-informed than two M.Ds?
Pfaelzer said the carrier arranged a hotel for the Kims while it attempted to get proper authorization. She said other passengers would be "traumatized" if a passenger were to die in flight, and called the situation unfortunate.
Yeah, well, judging by how awesome the carrier sounds, I bet it was like a Motel 6 or something.
Okay, let’s think about this “other passengers would be traumatized if a passenger were to die in flight” bit. It’s not like it’s never happened, and shoot, it happens in movies and TV shows all the time. (Remember the House episode, anyone?)
Plus, the fact is, anyone could walk on a plane and die – sudden heart attack, unknown health malady, brain aneurysm, and a myriad of other things could happen to anyone on the flight. It seems insanely wrong to discriminate against this woman because she’s already sick. The nerve of some people.
"I wanted to take my mom there for Mother's Day," said Mimi Kim, Crystal's daughter.
Elitist reporter note: Bad transition. We’re talking about the airline fearing she’d die, and the next sentence is “I wanted to take my mom there for Mother’s Day.” Bad, bad editor. Someone slap the editor with a ruler, and a red pen.
But I do find it very sweet she wanted to take her mom to Korea for Mother’s Day. Wow, I wish I had the money to jet around the world for Mother’s Day. Every holiday a new excuse to travel!
The Kims went back to the doctor Monday to get another note, the younger Kim told KING-TV. "Her vitals are normal ... she is fit for travel," she said.
She had to go get a third note? Really? The poor woman’s going to lose her battle with cancer before this gets resolved.
The airline reportedly was still dissatisfied, and left Seattle on Monday without the Kims.
What the hell does it take to make these people happy? I’m guessing since they didn’t wrap the doctor’s note around a stack of large bills.
"It's absolutely ludicrous, heartless and unbelievable," Mimi Kim said.
Yeah, what she said.
Delta Air Lines said it would fly Kim to South Korea on Wednesday, KING5-TV reported.
I hope for free and first class. I hope Korean Air refunded the money. Plus any charges incurred by the doctor to get the notes. Oh, and her pain and suffering. Quite frankly, Korean Air should be paying for all of her cancer treatments just so they don’t have to fear her dying in flight next time because, you know, they took it upon themselves to make sure she was healthy enough to fly – doctors be damned.
A call to Korean Air's corporate office in Seoul was answered by a person who said Tuesday is a national holiday, and said to call back Wednesday. Several Asian countries celebrate Buddha's Birthday, which falls on May 10 this year.
If it was a national holiday, and no one was there, why did someone answer the phone at all?
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| Am I the only one who thinks their logo looks like the Pepsi logo? |
I’m not surprised, because msnbc.com is going to rip them a new one and paint them poorly in the press.
A call to Delta also has not been returned.
This surprises me. I would think they’d be all over the good publicity. Then again, maybe they just wanted to do something nice for the sake of being nice. Are there still people/companies like that out there anymore? (Save for Chick-Fil-A, of course, we know they do.)
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