Delta airlines...wanted to vent

[melancholywings]

I just wanted to vent somewhere with people who 'get' it.

I booked a flight that has us switching planes part way. We start on Alaska for the first leg of the trip then switch to Delta. I could directly pick my seats with Alaska. But I couldn't pick the Delta seats when I booked. So I tried to select them on the website. But that wasn't working correctly. Instead I had to call in and wait for an hour to talk to someone. Wish I was exaggerating about that hour.
I finally get to a rep and explain to her that I want to select seats. She tries to bring up the flight info and experiences the same problems I was having but she works it out.
I tell the rep that I need two seats together because my child has a disability.
The rep then asks - 'what's her disability and how old is she.'
I tell her that my 10 year old has type one diabetes.
And the rep says 'I don't think that is a disability.'
....
I then say 'It is and it is a protected class.'
And her response.....'What?'
And my response 'You said it wasn't a disability and you are incorrect. Diabetes is a disability and a protected class.'
And her response...'I don't know if that's a real disability. There are many disabilities out there.'
.........
Me 'It is a disability. I need two seats together because she may require shots on the flight. She may have medical needs that may need to be attended to.' (We've had crazy sugars and pod failures on flights before)
The rep then says she has to talk to a supervisor. And then comes back with the needed seat assignments. I got what I needed...but seriously what a pain.

 

[Sparkly]

At least you got the seats you wanted eventually. I personally wouldn't ever want to fly on a airline where you couldn't pick your seats!

 

[smitch425]

I just wanted to vent somewhere with people who 'get' it.

I booked a flight that has us switching planes part way. We start on Alaska for the first leg of the trip then switch to Delta. I could directly pick my seats with Alaska. But I couldn't pick the Delta seats when I booked. So I tried to select them on the website. But that wasn't working correctly. Instead I had to call in and wait for an hour to talk to someone. Wish I was exaggerating about that hour.
I finally get to a rep and explain to her that I want to select seats. She tries to bring up the flight info and experiences the same problems I was having but she works it out.
I tell the rep that I need two seats together because my child has a disability.
The rep then asks - 'what's her disability and how old is she.'
I tell her that my 10 year old has type one diabetes.
And the rep says 'I don't think that is a disability.'
....
I then say 'It is and it is a protected class.'
And her response.....'What?'
And my response 'You said it wasn't a disability and you are incorrect. Diabetes is a disability and a protected class.'
And her response...'I don't know if that's a real disability. There are many disabilities out there.'
.........
Me 'It is a disability. I need two seats together because she may require shots on the flight. She may have medical needs that may need to be attended to.' (We've had crazy sugars and pod failures on flights before)
The rep then says she has to talk to a supervisor. And then comes back with the needed seat assignments. I got what I needed...but seriously what a pain.

Sorry you had to deal with that. Maybe she thought you needed some type of "special" seats and not just regular seats next to each other. Some people are
just ignorant to what certain medical issues require.

ETA: I have also never heard anyone say Diabetes was a "disability". A medical condition, but not a disability. Perhaps that was part of the confusion.

 

[kathie859]

OP...I hate when I can't pick my seat online!! It happens on Delta always for flights originating and ending in Europe. It frustrates me. I have had the occasional issue with the website being wonky and recently had a less than stellar conversation with an agent on the phone. The conversation was rife with misinformation (I was stuck in Atlanta having missed a connecting flight) and I ended up writing a note explaining my angst dealing with someone who was giving bad intel and Delta was FANTASTIC with their very prompt response and apology and added 5000 miles to my Skymiles account as a good will gesture.

If you feel strongly, go to the Delta website and there's a place make a comment.

 

[Happy 2 B Me]

It amazes me that children under the age of 12 are not allowed to travel alone on a flight that has a stop over, so why do airlines place children in seats seperated from parents? I definately see the the need for the origianl poster to be near the child as fluids are an issue with diabetic child. I understand that for every hour we are in flight that our bodies lose a cup of fluids. I know that can be an issuw with a diabetic. I am proud of her for standing her ground and now there is one more agent that knows diabetics are silently disabled -- we can not see the disability--

I am not a diabetic but beings I do dialysis wheile I wait for a kidney transplant I see what so many of the diabetics deal with every day .

 

[SteveMouse]

The ADA does not apply to airlines.

Instead, there is the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA). Under the ACAA, an adjoining seat must be provided for a person assisting a passenger with a disability when a passenger with a disability is traveling with a personal care attendant who will perform functions during the flight that airline personnel are not required to perform (like assistance with eating); when a passenger with a vision impairment is traveling with a reader/assistant who will perform functions for the person during the flight; when a passenger with a hearing impairment is traveling with an interpreter who will be interpreting during the flight; or when the air carrier requires a passenger to travel with a safety assistant.

If your child needed your assistance checking blood sugar during the flight or had vision impairments, for example, that would trigger the above referenced component.

That being said, I would have positioned my argument with the airline as do you want to acceot responsibility for my minor child making the connection?

For a complete summary see http://southwestada.org/html/publications/ebulletins/legal/2009/may2009.html.

Just because I may have one type of disability, it does not mean I need to, or should, utilize any and all accommodations for any disability. For example, I do not have vision issues, so do not need to utilize large-print menus. I certainly would try to avoid using an accommodation that did not serve my disability, especially if my utilization would consume a limited resource, reserving it for people with greater need.

 

[StacyMarie]

I just wanted to vent somewhere with people who 'get' it.

I booked a flight that has us switching planes part way. We start on Alaska for the first leg of the trip then switch to Delta. I could directly pick my seats with Alaska. But I couldn't pick the Delta seats when I booked. So I tried to select them on the website. But that wasn't working correctly. Instead I had to call in and wait for an hour to talk to someone. Wish I was exaggerating about that hour.
I finally get to a rep and explain to her that I want to select seats. She tries to bring up the flight info and experiences the same problems I was having but she works it out.
I tell the rep that I need two seats together because my child has a disability.
The rep then asks - 'what's her disability and how old is she.'
I tell her that my 10 year old has type one diabetes.
And the rep says 'I don't think that is a disability.'
....
I then say 'It is and it is a protected class.'
And her response.....'What?'
And my response 'You said it wasn't a disability and you are incorrect. Diabetes is a disability and a protected class.'
And her response...'I don't know if that's a real disability. There are many disabilities out there.'
.........
Me 'It is a disability. I need two seats together because she may require shots on the flight. She may have medical needs that may need to be attended to.' (We've had crazy sugars and pod failures on flights before)
The rep then says she has to talk to a supervisor. And then comes back with the needed seat assignments. I got what I needed...but seriously what a pain.

So glad you were able to get seats together. I know I would be COMPLETELY upset if I couldn't sit with my 10 year old child knowing that they may or may not need an injection or something else in flight due to their diabetes!

BTW, type 1 diabetes is a disability that is included in the ADA (Americans With Disabilities) act but I'm not sure if that applies to airlines.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

A few months ago I went to Europe on Delta (using miles). Between the time I booked and about a month before my flight they had my departure flight from Europe depart an hour later than the original schedule and my connecting flight depart an hour earlier. This gave me only a 45 minutes connection to not only clear immigration but also to retrieve my ECV which I was traveling with.

Anyway, the ended up putting me an the Air France non-stop 747 from Paris to Orlando. When I went for a seat assignment I found that my confirmation number for AF was different than the DL confirmation, so I had to use that on the AF website to reserve my seat.

Possibly the confirmation on DL was different that that on Alaska which is why DLs site was unable to find your reservation.

And your dealing with one less-than-competent employee is not a good reason to say that all service at the airline is bad.

This year I have had two trips on DL, the one DL/AF, and I have trips on UA and US booked. And I have given up tracking my airline miles when I reached a million a few years ago. But over the years I have found that the problem is much more the exception rather than the rule, no matter which airline.

 

[Talking Hands]

ETA: I have also never heard anyone say Diabetes was a "disability". A medical condition, but not a disability. Perhaps that was part of the confusion.

According to ADA it is a disability. It does limit a persons life functions substantially.

 

[smitch425]

According to ADA it is a disability. It does limit a persons life functions substantially.

I had just never heard someone refer to it as a disability in normal conversation.

And I am well aware of what it does. On January 16, 2010 at 7:56 am I recieved a phone call that my little brother (25 at that time, but still "little" to me) had unexpectedly succumbed to his diabetes. He passed away at my parents' house in his recliner prior to going to bed, but no one knew until that next morning. He was a month or so away from getting a kidney transplant from a living donor, but the donor was a smoker and the surgeon wanted the donor to stop smoking prior to perfoming the transplant. Not for the benefit of my brother, but for the benefit of the recovery time of the donor.

Now to lighten the dark mood I just put everyone in (sorry!), I will tell you something funny about my brother...

My brother had every video game system ever made. Towards the end of his young life he was almost completely blind. He had a 60" tv just so he could attempt to see his video games. He loved to play those first person war games online with a headset. He would play with people he didn't know, but he was terrible at it because he could hardly see anything. Most of the time he blew his own self up, and people on the other end of the line would ask, "Dude why did you just do that?" My brother never told them he was blind, he would always reply with something funny like, "I hit the wrong button" or I just wanted to see what it would look like".

 

[3BoysRDisneyFreaks]

I had just never heard someone refer to it as a disability in normal conversation.

And I am well aware of what it does. On January 16, 2010 at 7:56 am I recieved a phone call that my little brother (25 at that time, but still "little" to me) had unexpectedly succumbed to his diabetes. He passed away at my parents' house in his recliner prior to going to bed, but no one knew until that next morning. He was a month or so away from getting a kidney transplant from a living donor, but the donor was a smoker and the surgeon wanted the donor to stop smoking prior to perfoming the transplant. Not for the benefit of my brother, but for the benefit of the recovery time of the donor.

Now to lighten the dark mood I just put everyone in (sorry!), I will tell you something funny about my brother...

My brother had every video game system ever made. Towards the end of his young life he was almost completely blind. He had a 60" tv just so he could attempt to see his video games. He loved to play those first person war games online with a headset. He would play with people he didn't know, but he was terrible at it because he couldn't see hardly anything. Most of the time he blew his own self up, and people on the other end of the line would ask, "Dude why did you just do that?" My brother never told them he was blind, he would always reply with something funny like, "I hit the wrong button" or I just wanted to see what it would look like".

I have never heard of it referred to as a disability either. And I know plenty of diabetics.

I am sorry for the loss of your brother, but that story is cute & funny. Good memory.

Sarah

 

[smitch425]

I have never heard of it referred to as a disability either. And I know plenty of diabetics.

I am sorry for the loss of your brother, but that story is cute & funny. Good memory.

Sarah

Thank you,

 

[videogal1]

According to ADA it is a disability. It does limit a persons life functions substantially.

It is a medical condition that may or may not cause a substantial limitation in one or more of a person's major life activities. The ADA does not provide a list of medical conditions that confer a disabled status because the effect of a particular medical condition can vary from person to person. The ADA encourages the courts to determine the impact that a medical condition has on a person's life activities and also whether someone is generally considered (by friends, employer, strangers, etc) to be disabled by and because of a particular medical condition. It is up to the airline employee, under the ACAA to determine if the assurances of disability are credible. With diabetes becoming so common these days I am not surprised that you ran into some resistance. While having a medical condition that could possibly require personal medical attention during the flight is certainly a valid reason to expect an airline employee to understand the need for and to grant a shared seating area to you I'm not sure that "crying disability" did you any good.

 

[wendylovesdisney]

And your dealing with one less-than-competent employee is not a good reason to say that all service at the airline is bad.

I didn't see the OP say that. She said she wanted to vent to people who "understood". So OP, here's a

 

[Sparkly]

I had just never heard someone refer to it as a disability in normal conversation.

And I am well aware of what it does. On January 16, 2010 at 7:56 am I recieved a phone call that my little brother (25 at that time, but still "little" to me) had unexpectedly succumbed to his diabetes. He passed away at my parents' house in his recliner prior to going to bed, but no one knew until that next morning. He was a month or so away from getting a kidney transplant from a living donor, but the donor was a smoker and the surgeon wanted the donor to stop smoking prior to perfoming the transplant. Not for the benefit of my brother, but for the benefit of the recovery time of the donor.

Now to lighten the dark mood I just put everyone in (sorry!), I will tell you something funny about my brother...

My brother had every video game system ever made. Towards the end of his young life he was almost completely blind. He had a 60" tv just so he could attempt to see his video games. He loved to play those first person war games online with a headset. He would play with people he didn't know, but he was terrible at it because he could hardly see anything. Most of the time he blew his own self up, and people on the other end of the line would ask, "Dude why did you just do that?" My brother never told them he was blind, he would always reply with something funny like, "I hit the wrong button" or I just wanted to see what it would look like".

That's a great story, sorry for your loss.

I once jumped off a cliff in a videogame I was playing. Why? Because "I was curious as to what would happen" I think I was trying to get a specific error message or something.

 

[Schmeck]

It is a medical condition that may or may not cause a substantial limitation in one or more of a person's major life activities. The ADA does not provide a list of medical conditions that confer a disabled status because the effect of a particular medical condition can vary from person to person. The ADA encourages the courts to determine the impact that a medical condition has on a person's life activities and also whether someone is generally considered (by friends, employer, strangers, etc) to be disabled by and because of a particular medical condition. It is up to the airline employee, under the ACAA to determine if the assurances of disability are credible. With diabetes becoming so common these days I am not surprised that you ran into some resistance. While having a medical condition that could possibly require personal medical attention during the flight is certainly a valid reason to expect an airline employee to understand the need for and to grant a shared seating area to you I'm not sure that "crying disability" did you any good.

This is the best, most concise post I've read today - and the information it contains would clear up a lot of issues for people with disabilities. Thank you for posting!

This is an issue that come up frequently, here on the Dis and many other places. Someone claims "I am disabled", and expects, demands, insists on a certain accommodation. The ADA and the ACAA are very clear on the need for accommodation, and every case is an individual decision. There is no blanket accommodation for any disability, as each person's situation is unique.

 

[SueM in MN]

So glad you were able to get seats together. I know I would be COMPLETELY upset if I couldn't sit with my 10 year old child knowing that they may or may not need an injection or something else in flight due to their diabetes!

BTW, type 1 diabetes is a disability that is included in the ADA (Americans With Disabilities) act but I'm not sure if that applies to airlines.

The ADA does not apply to airlines; thy are covered under the Air Carrier Act.

SteveMouse beat me to posting the information.

The ADA does not apply to airlines.

Instead, there is the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA). Under the ACAA, an adjoining seat must be provided for a person assisting a passenger with a disability when a passenger with a disability is traveling with a personal care attendant who will perform functions during the flight that airline personnel are not required to perform (like assistance with eating); when a passenger with a vision impairment is traveling with a reader/assistant who will perform functions for the person during the flight; when a passenger with a hearing impairment is traveling with an interpreter who will be interpreting during the flight; or when the air carrier requires a passenger to travel with a safety assistant.

If your child needed your assistance checking blood sugar during the flight or had vision impairments, for example, that would trigger the above referenced component.

That being said, I would have positioned my argument with the airline as do you want to acceot responsibility for my minor child making the connection?

For a complete summary see http://southwestada.org/html/publications/ebulletins/legal/2009/may2009.html.

Just because I may have one type of disability, it does not mean I need to, or should, utilize any and all accommodations for any disability. For example, I do not have vision issues, so do not need to utilize large-print menus. I certainly would try to avoid using an accommodation that did not serve my disability, especially if my utilization would consume a limited resource, reserving it for people with greater need.

It is a medical condition that may or may not cause a substantial limitation in one or more of a person's major life activities. The ADA does not provide a list of medical conditions that confer a disabled status because the effect of a particular medical condition can vary from person to person. The ADA encourages the courts to determine the impact that a medical condition has on a person's life activities and also whether someone is generally considered (by friends, employer, strangers, etc) to be disabled by and because of a particular medical condition. It is up to the airline employee, under the ACAA to determine if the assurances of disability are credible. With diabetes becoming so common these days I am not surprised that you ran into some resistance. While having a medical condition that could possibly require personal medical attention during the flight is certainly a valid reason to expect an airline employee to understand the need for and to grant a shared seating area to you I'm not sure that "crying disability" did you any good.

I agree with the bolded part.
Diabetes (like every other condition) is a medical condition that may or may not cause a disability. Some people with diabetes, like smitch425's brother are heavily impacted by their diabetes and are disabled relayed to diabetes.
(Thank you, smitch425 for sharing the sweet story and sorry for your loss).

Many other people are not affected in ways that cause disability and do need to make lifestyle changes compared to people who do not have diabetes, but would not be disabled related to diabetes at this time (they may need some accommodation in regard to meal times, so may have a disability in certain situations). Examples of people who would fit that category would include
Olympic athletes with diabetes and well known people like Nick Jonas (one of the Jonas Brothers).

Facilities are allowed to ask what the nature of the disability is (not what the medical condition is), under both the ADA and the Air Carrier Act. this is so they
Can determine what accommodations are needed and whether they are ble to provide them. The Air Carrier Act has some differences compared to the ADA, mostly because of not being on the ground where other assistance is readily available.

Although the clerk sounded like they were rude, age is probably pertinent. A preschool age child with diabetes would be disabled for the purposes of the airline because they would require care related to their disability that they are not able to provide/do themselves. The airline old need to be proactive to make sure that child is sitting next to a parent who can provide the care.
But, many 10 and 12 yr olds are very much able to do thir own care related to diabetes and may not need to sit right next to a parent, as long as the parent is nearby.
So, the intent in asking the questions may have been to find out whether you needed seats right next to each other or just close. Maybe, not asked the best way, but my guess is thT was the intent, especially if the clerk could see there were few 'right next to each other' seats left on the flight.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

It amazes me that children under the age of 12 are not allowed to travel alone on a flight that has a stop over, so why do airlines place children in seats seperated [sic] parents?

Many airlines allow unaccompanied children younger than 12 to take connecting flights.

 

[melancholywings]

Thanks for all the support and for on the info for accommodations while flying. I never knew ADA didn't apply to air travel and that it was covered by something else. I just was frustrated that between all the things that went wrong between the website and the booking and being on hold for an hour, she then disagreed with me about it being a disability. I explained what accommodations I needed, I shouldn't have to argue the why. That's not why I bought the tickets. Lol.

And I didn't cry disability. I called in and told her that I had a disabled child and told her what accommodations I needed. Very matter of fact. It's such a normal way of speaking and life for me.

I find it interesting that so many posters don't call it a disability. When we were first DX we were told that the NW has one of the highest populations of T1D in the world, next to...it's either Norway or Sweden...I always forget which one. And this may be regional, but almost every family I know with T1D calls it a disability....when you say medical condition I think of pregnancy, or a mild case of psoriasis. Things that are inconvenient, temporary and not adversely affecting quality of life long term. It feels like it down plays what it is, or that it's shameful...something to hide. And when there are T1D parents fighting the school system to accommodate their service dogs, or having their children suffer multiple low induced seizures on the school bus for lack of care, or trying to make sure the school systems don't relocate and essentially segregate all the T1D children to a single school in the district...the terminology medical condition doesn't really do it justice. Calling it what it is, a disability adds more credibility to it's complications and impacts on life.

I hope my post doesn't come off as snarky...that's not my intent in the least. But it's YDMV 'your diabetes may vary'. And some of the responses to the post kind of come off as 'diabetes isn't a disability...', I don't know if it's intentional. But it is a disability and it is deserving of the same effort for accommodation and protection as any other disability. If a person in a wheelchair tells me they are disabled, I wouldn't argue them over it.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Actually Finland has the highest incidence of Type 1 diabetes.