I’m a health professional, not an MD , and I also carry my license in my wallet. There’s no way that I would feel obligated to present it to a flight attendant.
The airlines better get their acts together. First it’s seat encroachment, then discrimination against women because certain men can’t sit next to them, now this. If I have to blacklist anymore carriers, I’ll be seeing the US via Route 66.
<<<
How is someone “obviously mentally ill”?
[QUOTE=""]
[/QUOTE]
I once sat on a bus next to a disheveled man (probably in his 40s) who told me that he was Walt Disney (the Walt Disney) and that his family had told the world that he was dead so that they could steal his theme parks from him. He said that he escaped from a basement (likely!!) He also kept batting away at imaginary things.
Even if he doesn’t meet the criteria of being seriously mentally ill, I wouldn’t direct him to treat a person in health distress.
Maybe that guy I met really was Elvis.
Not thinking the OB-Gyn was disheveled, hallucinating or verbalizing delusions, even though the flight attendant might have thought otherwise 
I would like to remind readers of this thread, that a frequent poster on this site, a woman of color, says she’s been quite often directed to economy instead of to business class, when flying on business. Somehow, when you’re black, flight attendants just assume you belong in the back of the plane no matter what your boarding pass says.
The Delta incident had nothing to do with age, and we all know it.
I wasn’t at all referring to the OB/Gyn’s attire or demeanor.
I was suggesting that this horrible incident was more likely an exception, and not the rule for Delta employees.
It would be highly unusual for someone to raise their hand in a similar situation and not be a healthcare professional unless the person was drunk, wayyyy too young, or obviously mentally ill.
My point was that Delta will take heat for this, but I wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that there are a number of Delta employees who would have made the same horrible mistake. Certainly all airlines need to have a discussion with their employees.
Why? What actual damages has she sustained which would justify a very large settlement?
It seems that the flight attendant apologized profusely and sincerely, and will hopefully now engage in some serious introspection. I’d gladly take the miles, and a conversation with management that would hopefully result in some diversity training among staff.
<<<
would like to remind readers of this thread, that a frequent poster on this site, a woman of color, says she’s been quite often directed to economy instead of to business class, when flying on business.
[QUOTE=""]
[/QUOTE]
I have missed this. Someone on CC presents a ticket for business class but is then directed to economy class?
“I have missed this. Someone on CC presents a ticket for business class but is then directed to economy class?”
That seems an odd story. Personally, I present my ticket when at the gate. They scan it, say, “Thank you, Busdriver”, and I proceed to go down the jetway and get into my seat. I don’t present my ticket to the flight attendants and ask where to go. I just put my stuff in the overhead, and get into my seat. Is somebody being told they are sitting in the wrong seat, and need to go into economy? First class loads first, so a coach passenger wouldn’t even be able to get on early.
@busdriver11 - the person that was described above-- disheveled, hallucinating and delusional-- would they be denied boarding?? I was reading Delta’s contract of carriage https://www.delta.com/content/dam/delta-www/pdfs/legal/contract_of_carriage_dom.pdf and it sounds like they might. I also noticed that they could deny “malodorous” passengers (gee wish they’d enforce that one!) and people who are unable to sit in a seat with the seatbelt fastened. That seems to address the “person of size” issue. How often doe these regulations get used (outside of the disorderly conduct situation)?
"Why? What actual damages has she sustained which would justify a very large settlement?
It seems that the flight attendant apologized profusely and sincerely, and will hopefully now engage in some serious introspection. I’d gladly take the miles, and a conversation with management that would hopefully result in some diversity training among staff."
These stories about flight attendants often take a completely different route when the witnesses start weighing in. The person telling the story will often have a completely different story than that of the flight attendants or the other passengers. How often have we seen that happen?
But if you want money, and to placate your ego for being “disrespected”, this is the route you go. A sincere apology and diversity training is not what everybody wants.
@mom2collegekids:
It could be the person in question got up when they announced they were boarding business class, got in line, and someone said something like “we are not doing general boarding yet”, that would sort of make sense to me. It also could be she got on the airplane (others are right, you usually seat yourself), was in the business class area and getting ready to sit down and someone might have told them “this is business class, your seats are in the back” (without looking at the ticket)…and this wouldn’t surprise me, that without looking at the ticket, assume someone who is flying who is black (or back in the day, flying business class and not wearing a suit, that one happened to me) was in the wrong seat because “they couldn’t afford to fly business or first class”.
Not buying it.
Seems like there is more to this story than what is published. I don’t like how everything these days is turned into an issue of racism/sexism… drives me nuts. We don’t even know exactly what Cross said when she volunteered to help. Perhaps she didn’t explicitly say she was a doctor, we don’t really know.
If this was genuine racism, then it should be handled appropriately by Delta, but I can’t see how anyone in their right mind would say something like that, especially these days.
@mom2collegekids – the way I remember it, the poster said she’s flying business and is headed that way when already on board, but without looking at her boarding pass, flight attendant points to economy.
@busdriver, this is while on board, not when checking in. You know, when economy fliers go one way (toward the back of the plane) and business/1st class go right, toward the front.
Ben Carson looks more like a doctor than does Doogie Howser, so I think a combination of age, gender, race, and perhaps demeanor were involved in the flight attendant’s mistake. However, consistency is a problem, must everyone be believed, or must everyone need to show documentation?
jym, I don’t work for Delta, so I can’t tell you what they do. But I would certainly hope they would deny someone whom is disheveled, hallucinating and delusional. Then again, that can be hard to detect just from someone walking in. Many of us frequent travelers are disheveled, and who on here isn’t a little delusional? 
I have an entire list of people I wish they’d deny boarding to. Definitely the malodorous! The drunk, the obnoxious, the loud, the people who invade your space, smack their gum, sniff incessantly, shuffle cards loudly when everyone is sleeping, keep the window shade open though the light is shining brightly in everyone’s eyes, never stop talking, fart and think nobody knows it’s them, don’t even acknowledge your hello when you sit down…deny them all! On my airline, it would be nobody but you and me, and a few other pleasant cc’ers
<<<
. But I would certainly hope they would deny someone whom is disheveled, hallucinating and delusional. Then again, that can be hard to detect just from someone walking in. Many of us frequent travelers are disheveled, and who on here isn’t a little delusional?
[QUOTE=""]
[/QUOTE]
Lol…true…often there is very little interaction between a potential passenger and airline personnel before boarding. And some hallucinating/delusional people might not be disheveled or at least to the point to cause attention.
A person is disheveled hallucinating and delusional and is hanging around the boarding gate area for any length of time, it’s most likely some passenger will bring this to the attention of an employee
"@mom2collegekids – the way I remember it, the poster said she’s flying business and is headed that way when already on board, but without looking at her boarding pass, flight attendant points to economy.
@busdriver, this is while on board, not when checking in. You know, when economy fliers go one way (toward the back of the plane) and business/1st class go right, toward the front."
I’ve also been questioned when I’m putting my bags in the overhead, probably because I look like one of those coach passengers who sneak their bags into first class so they don’t have to carry them down the aisle. I generally don’t look very well made up. The flight attendants should be careful about that, because once or twice one can overlook it, too many times makes a trend.
I went through a period of time where the flight attendants would basically ignore me in first class. Some routes, the entire first class is made up of men, wearing suits, traveling on business, it seems, and they would look right through me. Offer drinks to the guy sitting next to me, while I’m staring right at them, and not say a word to me. I didn’t take it personally, it just was. I wasn’t what they were expecting to see, so they just didn’t see me (kind of like why I’ve almost hit motorcycles when I was driving). So what I did was make myself visible to them, when I first walked onto the airplane. Said something friendly or funny, something personal with a big smile, and then sat down in first class. And the first time they come by, I do the same thing, so they know that no matter what I look like, I am they type of passenger that they will enjoy, and I AM THERE. Works every time.