uCancer Patient Says American Airlines Ticket Agent Refused To Provide Her A Wheelchairr

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  (Adam Fagen)

  Just because someone looks healthy on the outside doesn’t necessarily mean they actually are. That’s the lesson a Texas woman hopes to pass on to others after she says a ticket agent with American Airlines declined to provide her with a wheelchair despite the fact she had just receiving cancer treatment.

  ABC 10News in San Diego reports that the woman was traveling back to Texas after receiving treatment for her leukemia when the ticket agent failed to fulfill her request for a wheelchair transport to the gate.

  The traveler says she started to feel weak and in pain while standing at the counter, so she asked the agent for a wheelchair to the gate and to have one waiting for her when she arrived in Dallas.

  “She just kind of looked and said ‘Oh, you look fine to me,’ and I didn’t I know how to take it,” the passenger says.

  The woman asked for assistance again, saying she had been diagnosed with leukemia three years ago and was in the city to receive treatment.

  “I just said, you know, I’m here for cancer treatment and I need help, and at that point she just kind of yelled over her shoulder ‘I need a wheelchair’ and dismissed me on the way and I waited for about 20 minutes and nothing came,” she tells 10News.

  Fortunately, the woman says an airport employee noticed her struggling and provided a wheelchair in time to catch her flight.

  But the ordeal didn’t end there. The passenger says that upon landing in Dallas there was no wheelchair waiting.

  “The lady at the counter by the gate said I don’t have you on my list and just turned and started talking to somebody else,” she says.

  While the woman says she may look like a healthy person, she reminds others that you can’t see leukemia or other illnesses on the inside.

  The woman tells 10News that she called American Airlines when she returned home but was unable to talk to an actual person. An email complaint resulted in an automated response notifying her that she would hear from the airline within 30 days.

  “I don’t want anything,” she says. “I just don’t want them to do this to other people.”

  10News’ attempts to contact the airline were also relatively fruitless, as the airline’s media desk was closed Monday evening and an email produced the same automated response. The company did respond to a Twitter message from the reporter, saying that the media desk would reply as soon as possible.

  Cancer patient says American Airlines would not give her wheelchair [ABC 10News]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist