Ore. man's Facebook post sparks Alaska Airlines backlash
BEND, Ore. (AP) - A longtime Oregon concert promoter sparked an online backlash against Alaska Airlines with a Facebook post describing what he called "the worst of humanity."
Cameron Clark of Bend wrote to his Facebook friends Friday that he saw a disabled man miss a flight because numerous airline personnel refused to give him extra assistance, even after Clark intervened and asked employees to help. Clark said the man told him he has late-stage Parkinson's disease.
KTVZ reports Clark's story spread quickly and sparked a series of angry Facebook posts directed at the airline.
The airline sees the incident differently and says employees did their best to accommodate the passenger. Officials posted on Facebook that the man's ticket was refunded, and he boarded a new flight Saturday morning. A spokesman said the man never said he was disabled and airline employees, smelling alcohol, believed he was intoxicated.
In his Facebook post, Clark said the man appeared to be in his 70s and told him that he missed a limited window of time he had to meet his daughter in Bellingham, Wash.
Clark wrote: "what happened to our collective sense of decency, of compassion, of our disposition to help those in need of extra help. alaska airlines. you broke a man's heart today. you maintained your policy, and ignored an opportunity to do the right thing. you broke my heart too."
Clark told KTVZ in a written statement that he never intended for his post to become viral, but the many people who responded to the story and put pressure on Alaska Airlines to "show that the best of humanity is alive and well. that light exists. that accountability is possible."
The man never told airline employees that he had Parkinson's disease or any other disability, spokesman Paul McElroy told The Associated Press on Saturday. Officials believed he was intoxicated because they smelled alcohol.
"We are prohibited from asking customers if they have a disability, and the customer never told us that he had Parkinson's, or any disability for that matter," McElroy said. "He did appear disoriented to us, and later, when we smelled alcohol, we were led to the conclusion he was intoxicated."
"We don't know whether this customer has Parkinson's or not," McElroy added.
McElroy said the passenger has not complained to the airline.
Cameron Clark of Bend wrote to his Facebook friends Friday that he saw a disabled man miss a flight because numerous airline personnel refused to give him extra assistance, even after Clark intervened and asked employees to help. Clark said the man told him he has late-stage Parkinson's disease.
KTVZ reports Clark's story spread quickly and sparked a series of angry Facebook posts directed at the airline.
The airline sees the incident differently and says employees did their best to accommodate the passenger. Officials posted on Facebook that the man's ticket was refunded, and he boarded a new flight Saturday morning. A spokesman said the man never said he was disabled and airline employees, smelling alcohol, believed he was intoxicated.
In his Facebook post, Clark said the man appeared to be in his 70s and told him that he missed a limited window of time he had to meet his daughter in Bellingham, Wash.
Clark wrote: "what happened to our collective sense of decency, of compassion, of our disposition to help those in need of extra help. alaska airlines. you broke a man's heart today. you maintained your policy, and ignored an opportunity to do the right thing. you broke my heart too."
Clark told KTVZ in a written statement that he never intended for his post to become viral, but the many people who responded to the story and put pressure on Alaska Airlines to "show that the best of humanity is alive and well. that light exists. that accountability is possible."
The man never told airline employees that he had Parkinson's disease or any other disability, spokesman Paul McElroy told The Associated Press on Saturday. Officials believed he was intoxicated because they smelled alcohol.
"We are prohibited from asking customers if they have a disability, and the customer never told us that he had Parkinson's, or any disability for that matter," McElroy said. "He did appear disoriented to us, and later, when we smelled alcohol, we were led to the conclusion he was intoxicated."
"We don't know whether this customer has Parkinson's or not," McElroy added.
McElroy said the passenger has not complained to the airline.
JCB: So sorry that you had to endure such inconvenience on your flight. That still does not mean that employees of any company should ASSUME someone is drunk based on so little information. As stated here, and from personal knowledge, it IS possible for someone to SMELL like alcohol and NOT be drunk! Everyone deserves the right to be treated politely. Just because this gentleman didnât speak up to say he was disabled shouldnât mean that employees can assume he was fine. He was elderly, also.
I have been on plenty of flights that had no drunks, and still ben miserable due to others being jerks, so being drunk is not the only reason people get nasty. I still hold that everyone deserves to be treated with respect, and if they are having difficulties, especially if they are older, we should stop to help, not assume the worst of them. If we act without knowledge, we are the rude jerks, not those needing our help.
As a nurse, I would have suspected ketoacidosis
So I guess if you are intoxicated or merely thought to be so, you donât deserve to be treated with dignity by the employees of Alaska Airlines?
Whether he was intoxicated or not, he still deserved to be treated with some amount of respect, as this company and all companies are here to SERVE US, itâs customers. That is what they are being PAID to do. Was he disrespectful? Was he being difficult, or acting out? Or was he simply having difficulties following what a ânormalâ person would be doing under the same circumstances. Until someone is PROVEN to be drunk, and/or being obnoxious and combative, they should ALL be treated with respect, dignity and common courtesy. If we deny anyone these simple, most basic responses, we are in danger of becoming shamefully and forever devoid of simple good behavior and common sense.
Shame on Alaska Airlines.Â
 @angelgabe Nothing like getting on a plane with someone who only had "one or two", then having them turn obnoxious just after takeoff. Sure, she was having fun, but no so much the rest of us. But of course, her rights and dignity, not to mention lack of courtesy, trump the rest of us who were actually acting with respect and dignity.
 @angelgabe AND...maybe he had a glass of wine to relax...that would not make him intoxicated. But more likely, maybe his meds made his breath smell like alcohol when in fact he never ingested any alcohol at all. Customer service and compassion are not as it used to be. And just because he did not "tell" anyone that he was disabled, I have seen the symptoms of P.D. and it is a very obvious disease, even if you don't know what it is.