Dr. Erin Nance, a New York-based orthopedic hand surgeon, and founder of a social media platform for women dealing with chronic health issues, flew American Airlines in business class to Europe. She stepped in and gave up her lie flat seat to save the flight from having to divert to Canada. And now the airline is pretending they don’t know who she is when she’s asking about a make-good on her ticket.
- About an hour into the flight, she says, a flight attendant made an announcement asking for a doctor to assist with a medical emergency. She says she “always responds to these requests.”
- A passenger had fainted but was awake and “feeling ok” and wanted to return to her seat. Then half an hour later there was a second medical emergency – the same woman – and she was not well.
- The woman was stable and communicative, but couldn’t get up from a flat position on the floor in front of the lavatory.
- The captain considers diverting to Nova Scotia. The doctor volunteers her business class seat (and her husband’s) so the passenger can lay down, and the flight doesn’t have to divert.
The doctor and her husband were on paid business class tickets, and were swapped out for two seats in the back of coach with no recline.
After the trip, she contacted American Airlines. While she would “100% do it again and volunteer [her] seat” in the situation, she was hoping to have a future business class experience. She was told to fill out a form on the website. After more than a month she’s heard nothing.
@littlemissdiagnosed @delta would never…still waiting for a response @American Airlines ♬ original sound – Dr. Erin Nance
The doctor did volunteer her seat! It’s the right thing to do, she thought. Maybe she shouldn’t be compensated for that?
But it also saved American Airlines from an incredibly costly diversion. She responded to the airline’s call for help. And she didn’t get the product she’d purchased. Should she get a refund, or miles equivalent to a future business class one-way saver award? Or… at least… the courtesy of a response from the airline?
I reached out to American Airlines and they opted not to comment.
(HT: James W)
Again, American is a crypto currency thinly disguised as an airline.
Unless it improves D0, the metric doesn’t matter.
Lesson learned: don’t volunteer for anything!
I think someone was just trying to make American great again. She obviously should have been home taking care of her child and man instead of taking away a doctor job from a more deserving white male (you know, the kind that run American Airlines).
That’s terrible by AA. It probably would have cost them hundreds of thousands in fuel and other cost had the physician asked the pilot to divert the flight. It seems that physicians are the only porofessionals that are expected to volunteer their time and risk potential litigation for in flight emergencies. The FAA should provide a fee for this service. For similar service for a home emergency repair, i’m typically billed 1.5X or 2X the usual fee. As a physician, i performed a similar service on a Lufthansa flight and went back to sleep. 2 hours later, i was awaked by the flight attendant because “my patient” had another question for me!!! Dr. G
My husband is a physician who has been called upon many times over our years of travel. American, US Airways, United, Delta, Northwest, BA, Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic, Hawaiian, and probably some I’m not recalling. Almost all were long-haul, wide-body international aircraft. In several of these occasions, the captain was involved, MedLink (a ground medical service most airlines contract with for in-flight emergencies) was involved. In most cases the captain replied upon husband’s expertise to make the determination whether a diversion was necessary. Once the situation is in hand, the flight service manager works through the extensive incident report paperwork with husband, requiring ID, medical license, practice details, etc. The whole thing generally consumed hours of a flight and in some cases, he was monitoring the patient/passenger throughout.
In all cases the crew were very grateful and appreciative, but really have nothing material to offer. Not that he’s looking for anything; he’s definitely not. On each flight, we were passengers in either First or Business class. (Fortunately, he never had to give up his own seat!) It always amazed me that not one time did an airline reach out in any way to thank a First or Business Class passenger for taking a sizable amount of time out of his flight to help one of their passengers with medical treatment and to keep the airplane from having to divert. Imagine the cost savings. And still, it’s not even worth a form letter of thanks.
It really tells you what kind of a company you are dealing with. I have flown American Airlines many times and have a credit card of theirs BUT, I will not ever use either again. They should be ashamed.
The pilot is a pilot, not a trained health professional. The pilot will get input from trained health professionals in a situation such as this. Some of those professionals could be on the airplane and some could be remote from the airplane. Those professionals made the call on whether the situation was serious enough to require a diversion.
I once attended a patient on a trans Atlantic Lufthansa flight. The crew gave me a couple of decent bottles of wine on arrival and I got a personal letter of thanks from the airline.
I’m constantly reminded these days about how true the old “No good deed goes unpunished” adage is. It just doesn’t make sense to do anything for anyone else anymore.
As much as I despise American, they don’t owe her anything other than thanks for helping with a passenger suffering a medical issue – but she WILLINGLY gave up her seat to that passenger, and it’s not like they bumped her out of it for some lame reason. In this case, she is acting entitled because she thinks she is owed something. If she wanted to have the experience of the seat she GAVE UP, then maybe she shouldn’t have given it up along with her husbands seat. She screwed herself
Why bother helping people anymore. It isn’t worth it. You’ll either be despised, shouted at, sued or worse. We are in an age of “every man for himself”.
As an exec platinum, it’s bothering me that AA chose not to comment. Like, these things can be PR wins and they won’t lose too much money on giving the doc a SWU for a future flight. The doc easily saved them $50k and will probably not fly AA again. So instead of a win-win it’s a lose-lose.
World Class service should dictate at the very minimum a personal letter from a Sr. Executive and the offer of a pair of courtesy upgrades. However, American for one has lost touch with their clients, it has been this way for at least the past 20 years. Only when clients stop using a vendor and the board of directors see a dramatic downward trend in the revenue will they ask why? By then it is usually too late!
Sorry but something about this just does not ring true. Get more facts before you trash AA:
@Dave they probably do owe these doctors. How much would they have incurred in costs to divert the plane, in addition to whatever other additional costs that would have incurred for them?
Wow, Dave, that’s quite an interesting (and disturbing, to me) perspective.
Many years ago when I was an Airport Duty Manager we attended all reported medical emergencies on site.
In this case a man had a heart attack in a gate boarding area and when I arrived on scene a passenger who was a doctor had already begun CPR and utilized a defib unit that was part of the kit with the Airport nurse. This was back in the 80’s and IV was also started by nurse who was licensed (delegated) to administer certain life drugs without a Dr being present given her role, as most of the time there would be no Dr present.
Between the Airport Nurse and the Dr the guy regained consciousness and was transported to Hospital.
As the site was being cleaned up I approached the gate desk and asked if they could get the Dr and his wife a little more leg room on the flight. The Agent immediately asked me to bring the Dr over and with no hesitation bumped the 2 up to Business. This was Air Canada in Toronto and no “I need to get permission talk from the gate agent”
Not so sure this could happen today, but it was time when flying was still fun and Air Carrier, and Airport staff cared about their passengers.
A diversion would have cost thousands and inconvenienced a complete flight. Come on AA you can do better.
Well, I’m a Plat Pro and I’m not surprised by this treatment. But most of the doctors I know say they never raise their hands when they hear a call for a doctor like in this situation, so I guess this shows why.
American Airlines just keeps falling further and deeper into junk status!
I have a friend who is a French doctor. He told me he always volunteers to help sick passengers on flight, EXCEPT
1) If the passenger is American, because he might get sued
2) if the airline is any American one, because he might get sued,
AA has again earned my award for worst airline of the many I’ve flown in travels to 66 countries. I have enough miles for a long international flight, but I’m not sure that flying free is worth the insufferable customer care in counter, gate, cabin, and after-trip operations.
But this story tops the cake for deserved criticism.
I will never fly American Airlines again. I Would gladly take a train, a boat, a bicycle or walk to avoid their version of customer service.
I stopped raising my hand after I read a report in the medical journal, Lancet, where a leading UK surgeon asked BA if they would have paid his legal bills in case of a law suit. The answer was, No, you volunteered to help ! Also, there is the issue of Doctors being licensed only in their country and whose jurisdiction applies over international waters. Once, I provided medicine from my personal kit to a passenger with uncontrolled vomiting and diarrhea on a flight from Bangkok and watched him most of the night. Interestingly, the crew was very appreciative but the patient never said a word of Thanks !
This passenger was gracious, empathetic, and thoughtful.
AA should have thanked her with a hand signed card or letter from leadership.
(She does not deserve any future flight credit, unless it was bartered or agreed to at the time of seat swap).
I was once on a long-haul AA flight that diverted to a mid-sized airport that could not handle a widebody. We did so in spite of being relatively close to two major AA hubs, presumably in a misguided attempt to get the patient care faster. It took the local fire department nearly an hour to figure out how to access the aircraft in a manner that would allow for a stretcher to be brought on board. Had we instead continued on to our destination or diverted to the other hub, the suffering, extremely sick patient would have been extracted far faster. Based on this experience alone, I am totally unsurprised that AA fails to recognize heroic first responders who are under no obligation to assist. The airline truly does not “cAAre” about anything these days besides saving money in ridiculous ways, and touting their stupid credit cards.
American should respond. Otherwise for people like me it’s enough never to fly AA again.
@PeeAm: “Once, I provided medicine from my personal kit to a passenger with uncontrolled vomiting and diarrhea on a flight from Bangkok and watched him most of the night. Interestingly, the crew was very appreciative but the patient never said a word of Thanks !”
If the patient is in too much distress, having them be polite and say thank you at the time may not be what is on their mind. It is possible after the ordeal that they wanted to thank you but had no way to get in touch.
This is the only failsafe channel to get American’s attention:
https://secure.dot.gov/air-travel-complaint
(or any other airline for that matter)
I don’t even bother with contacting the carrier, complete waste of time.
NOTE: The carrier is REQUIRED to provide a direct response to EVERY complaint filed — EVERY, SINGLE, ONE.
Corporations aren’t people. Even if they send a thank you letter, they certainly don’t mean it. They’d rather you die than lose a few pennies in profit. It’s the nature of the construct. Expectations are nonsensical, especially regarding a corp. The kind doctor has earned a ton of good karma, and that beats a letter and a million future upgrades.
I do think AA owed this doctor a gratitude with thanks. They provide a product, and having the doctor step up and prevent a diversion was huge. Take it out of marketing’s budget, but here they had a chance to keep a customer, they just lost her (likely) and me (absolutely!)
Why not at least reply to the doctor & this inquiry? Common decency does not cost anything, but being azz holes can cost a lot in the long run!! #AmericanFlyerBeware
The problem is obviously bad recordkeeping. If AA corporate had a record of this happening, I’m sure they would make things right. But they apparently don’t have a record, and have to base their decision on a semi-influential customer writing a customer service complaint.
Not sure if it would be the pilot’s job or the flight attendant’s, but there should be some mechanism to document what occurred in these situations.
Imagine what a great story this could have turned in to for the airline. Instead they chose to take a customer that was willing to pay for business class and stiff them for their willingness to help. Thank you Doctor for volunteering your time and expertise during a flight. Make it right American, quickly !
No good deed goes unpunished! Our airlines are far from what they once were. There is no competition, no aircraft manufacturers but a few which are overwhelmed, no standards in hiring flight attendants.
I’m not a fan of American Air (or Delta or United, etc), however….
I’ve been called upon 4 different times to help with a medical emergency on board and have been happy to assist. I have never done it because I expect anything in return. It’s a sad world we live in that if do good deeds expecting rewards in return. Someone in the comments said: no good deed goes unpunished. What?! Nobody got punished. She volunteered, and the warm, fuzzy feeling should suffice. It’s called charity and being a good human. Not to mention she saved oodles of time and her own vacation time along with everyone on board. Maybe she should start a gofundme…cause any good karma out of her act has been neutralized.
Amtrak Airlines where no good deed goes unpunished.
Thank you for this cautionary warning to *NEVER* purchase travel from American Airlines!!
I prefer to support *HONEST* companies, even at a slightly higher cost. Until more people decide to do the same, these abuses of Power will only continue.
I’ve been involved in a few of these instances and have a few thoughts.
Nurses, EMT’s and other healthcare professionals respond, in addition, to physicians, so want to make sure we recognize there service. These situations are incredibly stressful with limited resources, requiring life or death decisions.
Aside from never being financially remunerated ($$, vouchers, miles or upgrades), I’ve never had anyone check on me after the event. It’s shame that airlines, with all of there resources, can’t pick up the phone and personally thank another human being and make sure they are mentally well after these types of medical emergencies. It’s ashame AA chose not to comment, not even a we thank those that responded message…
I was on an Alaska airlines flight to Hawaii a few years ago when they requested help for a medical emergency. I pressed the button as I am a fp physician. Turns out it was a kid a few rows behind me that was having an allergic reaction. Swelling of the face and lips after taking ibuprofen for the first time ever. A pediatric nurse was also nearby and my wife is a hospital pharmacist. So an ideal team to treat this. Well guess what after we got up to help they asked me what we should do and I said give benadryl the dose on the pediatric bottle to start with. The. i asked what other medications were available in the airplane kit. That’s when it got crazy the flight attendant who asked for my help told me to sit down in a very stern voice. I repeated myself and said I am a doctor I know the dosing for this. She says “Sir sit down and get back in your seat now!” I did because I was shocked. She says to me, “in this situation we call the medlink doctor for what to do.” I’m thinking then why the hell did you announce it overhead and then come get me from my seat. It took over 20 min for them on the satellite phone to finally give this child a dose of benadryl and the whole time I’m thinking she’s going to crash and then its really going to be my problem. You just know the doc on the ground would rather have me running the decisions since I’m actually there. I spent the rest of the flight checking in with the parents because I was still worried about the child. At the end the flight crew said that they needed to follow protocol or they could get in trouble so sorry about getting in your face. Well I decided after that I’m not pressing the button anymore. Call your medlink next time. If you are asking for help let me do it, if you are just having me wait till it goes to hell no thanks.