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Delta has issued an apology to a California family that it kicked off a red-eye flight from Maui to Los Angles late last month.
“We are sorry for the unfortunate experience our customers had with Delta, and we’ve reached out to them to refund their travel and provide additional compensation,” the carrier said in a statement Thursday. “Delta’s goal is to always work with customers in an attempt to find solutions to their travel issues. That did not happen in this case and we apologize.”
A video of the incident shows Brian Schear arguing with Delta agents and a security official as they tell him he and his family must leave the plane. Schear, from Huntington Beach, Calif., was traveling back to Southern California with wife, Brittany, and their children ages 1 and 2.
The video shows a security official and an airline employee telling the Schears that they must deplane. Schear argues that he purchased the seat in question.
“This is going to be a federal offense. You and your wife could be in jail and your kids will be put in foster care,” the employee tells him.
Schear told NBC that he originally purchased his three tickets on the plane for himself, his wife and his teenage son. But he later decided to buy the older son a ticket on another flight so that the couple’s 2-year-old could have her own seat. He said he explained the situation to a Delta ticket agent and was allowed to board.
Language on Delta’s website states that “all tickets are nontransferable per the fare rules. Name changes are not permitted.”
On the plane, the video shows an agent telling Schear that the 2-year-old can’t occupy the seat. Schear, in turn, counters that he purchased the seat and shouldn’t have to give it up to accommodate a standby passenger.
Later in the video, a woman, who appears to be a Delta employee, tells Schear that per the FAA, babies can’t fly with car seats. Schear responds that the same child flew to Maui on a Delta plane in a car seat.
The FAA website says that the agency “strongly urges” parents to place children in a child restraint system while flying, and not on their laps.
Ultimately, Schear asks if he can put the 2-year-old on his lap, but an employee tells him that his only two choices are to deplane, or to wait and force the airline to deplane the entire flight.
When Schear asks what he is supposed to do as far as lodging for the night and travel, the employee replies, “At this point, you guys are on your own.”
The incident involving Delta and the Schear family came 15 days after United brought airline customer service practices under a microscope when it called security to remove two paid passengers from a United Express flight to make way for a crew members. One of those passengers, David Dao, was ultimately dragged down the aisle of the plane, bloodied and injured, by Chicago Department of Aviation police.
That incident has sparked calls for new regulation on airline practices by some members of Congress. It also led to a pair of oversight hearings in Congress this week, one held by a House committee and the other by a Senate subcommittee.
On Friday, Delta canceled the International Media Day event it has scheduled for Thursday and Friday of next week. The carrier did not offer a reason for the cancellation.
Sоurсе: travelweekly.com
