Jane Graham-Bailey says all she wanted to do was board her flight at Asheville Regional Airport and return home to Florida in time for an Easter dinner with family, according to a report in Wednesday’s Asheville Citizen-Times.
But after what she calls a “humiliating” confrontation with an airline worker over her medical oxygen tank, Graham-Bailey said she was denied passage on the Allegiant flight Sunday because she didn’t have the proper paperwork for the tank.
The 78-year-old resident of Jensen Beach, Fla., who was carrying the tank in case of an asthma attack, is still stuck in Western North Carolina trying to get home.
This is not covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act or the Air Carrier Access Route. However, according to FAA rules, the airlines are supposed to receive 48 hours advance notice if a passenger needs a medical oxygen tank, and the airlines are supposed to fax a form to the traveler’s physician verifying the passenger is able to fly safely and the flow rate of the oxygen tank. The airlines are obligated to provide oxygen tanks based upon this information, although they can charge for them (and they do, of course).
This person may have a legal cause of action based upon these guidelines promulgated by the FAA.