Delta, KLM sued for death of obese woman denied flight

1) she could get the necessary medical treatment in Hungary, but she refused it, claiming she didn't trust the doctors there....
2) KLM offers obese people to buy a 2nd seat (as they use 2 seats), at a discount, so then the can fly; she did not take this chance

The question was raised in the article and maybe should have been answered there too: what did she fly over on? It leaves a question in my mind whether it was because of the aircraft or the judgment of the flight crew. The decision over whether you fly or not is pretty subjective with no clear limits. Three seats are more than 52 inches wide. You take it from there. It's hard to believe that someone less than 500 pounds would have a beam of more than 52". She might have had a problem getting down the isle-way. My son is wheelchair bound and his chair won't fit in the isle and the airline transports him in a device from the terminal to his seat and vice-verse at the destination where they deliver him to his chair. As usual, there is more to this story than was written.

I can't believe your posts! I knew people can be cruel but this is totally unacceptable! To be so degrading, insensative, inhumane and non-compassionate! Obviously, Mrs. Soltesz was very ill. Chronic Diabetes and obviously in Renal Failure. Did anyone, just once, think that maybe she wanted to go to see her homeland of Hungary for the last time before she passed. Well, if that was her wish...she got it. You people are looking at her weight and size...not who she was as a person. So quick to judge! In my day of being a Flight Crew Member, we had several situations like this. My Carrier accommodated the passenger without encroaching on the space or saftety of the other passengers. As far as safety is concerned with disabled passengers, they are well briefed as to the concequences in the event of an emergency. For those of you who are concerned about that...don't be afraid!! They will go down with the ship! I question the Primary Physician in this case. In my opinion, he/she should have put Mrs. Soltesz on a "DNF" (do not fly) restriction. And this woman has a name! She's not Cargo!

Nope..Fedex has a 150 lbs weight limit for express..She'd have to go freight!!

why didn't she just get on a transat cruise ship? Those things are the size of a small country nowadays and can probably tow a continent without breaking a sweat!

There are plenty of questions surrounding this, at least to me. One is if this woman was so ill, why was she traveling to Hungary in the first place? If you are missing limbs that make it difficult to move while you are that large and need assistance to get to the plane and board it, then you should not be getting on a plane, period.

Delta and KLM are in a no win situation here from the sounds of things. While they did try to accommodate her, her husband sees it as they are responsible, but they are not completely responsible. They are just as responsible for not getting medical help when needed, especially since it was known before they first went to Hungary that she would need or be needing medical attention while on the trip. They didn't make arrangements to ensure that she tended to medically while on their trip.

I hope the judge in the case does what is right and assigns some of the blame to the husband as being her caregiver, he is ultimately responsible for her well being and as he didn't talk her out of making said trip, is just as responsible as the airlines are for allowing her to fly to Europe to begin with.

The UK Dailymail had a lot more on this story than the CBS link. The woman could not walk and they tried to have the fire deparment get her to the plane from her car and they could not lift her.

Aside from the whole 'blame the airline' line of argument, seriously some blame needs to placed for refusing to even attempt medical treatment in Hungary. If it's such a horrible place with primitive 'Communist era healthcare', why did they maintain a residence there? Especially knowing her condition and that it was annual trip, you'd think they'd at least have to entertain the notion of needing local medical care.

Where is the blame for over eating? No no it wasn't the onset of diaboties or heart dease.. The cause must of been delta. What has happened to America why do we have more and more people tring to transfer blame?

Should have tried FedEx or UPS, they are happy to carry over sized loads!

The bottom line is she could not either get on the plane or be put on the plane if they could not lift her, fit her through the doorway, down the aisle or between seats on the particular aircraft available. What does the family expect, strap her on the top of the fuselage like the space shuttle?

And they blame the airline? What were they supposed to do take the arm rests out between the three seats? Seems she should have taken a ship but cannot figure out how she was supposed to get thru the door and down the isle. Take the blame for your wife being so fat.

Think about all the other passengers who would have been in trouble during an emergency if she was let on that airplane....hell if i was a passenger on the flight she DID get on going over the pond I would have protested her being on the plane as a safety hazard to others on that particular flight. May seem cruel.....sometimes reality sucks

This article mentions that she may have put on weight during her holiday time in Hungary, which may explain why she couldn't fit onto an airplane for her return trip...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2238590/Sick-US-woman-died-Hungary-airline-booted-New-York-flights-fat-fly.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=14907

I don't understand why people are talking about seats here. They couldn't get her through the door. They tried to get her through the door of a plane in Budapest and then they sent her to Prague (which is several hours' drive away) and they couldn't get her on the plane there either.
The husband is suing the airlines because they didn't manage to get her on the plane, even after an hour of trying. For that the suit will not succeed, because the airlines made reasonable accommodation, including delaying the flight for many of their passengers.
And furthermore, she didn't have to fly home to the US in the first place. I live in Hungary, and the healthcare here is not "communist-era", though some of the buildings are. It wasn't an emergency, because she could have accepted treatment in Hungary.

She died and was found in her house in Hungary by her husband two days after her death. Where was he??If she was that sick and refused to see doctors there because of mistrust, then what the hell does the airline have to do with this??

No win situation for Delta....if they had gotten her on board and she croaked halfway across the Atlantic or they had to divert because she was stuck in a washroom and couldn't find the loo beneath the rolls and couldn't turn around to get out or became a public health problem voiding in her Depends Xtras they would still get sued by her enabler...the husband. The livestock cargo carrier option was the only alternative although the horses might complain.

UPS, Atlas, or Kalitta would be preferred carriers. The nose loading door on their 747F/SCD's may just be wide enough! To be serious, if she was in that bad of shape, an airplane is the last place she needs to be. She should have sought treatment in Hungary regardless of the cost. Better yet, stay home, or sell the vacation home and spend it on time in the fat farm getting healthier.

I wonder if business class would have accommodated her better. At least the pitch is wider but there would not be a couple of seats that she could have used unlike coach.

Too much information is lacking in this story. I don't care how fat you are, three seats accross is large enough to accommodate Andre the Giant. The problem is the pitch, or the distance between the rows. If you're too fat, you may not be able to fit between the rows, or even walk down the aisle. The only answer is the bulkhead row and most airlines now charge a premium for those seats. Obviously, this woman could never fit in the bathroom either, so where does IT go when she has to go. I believe this woman weighed far more than 425 lbs. and was not medically fit to fly. Anyhow, I live in Ecuador and if I need medical attention I will gladly put my trust into the hands of Ecuadorian MDs. Or, Hungarian doctors, if necessary. That's utter nonsense bouncing from Budapest to Prague to Frankfurt to get to New York. It's all too convoluted. Extradite the caregiver husband to wherever this lady died and expect that country to file neglect or manslaughter charges on him.

In the daily mail link below, it also has some picture which give further explanation to this whole mess. To top things off, I really can't see where DAL has any involvement in this other than trying to accomodate her and couldn't, as they could not get her on the pane. If the story is correct they were just trying to do a favor for KLM.

Hey Toby...I think you should educate yourself on Commercial Airline Safety!
Why are you so bent out of shape? Like I said in my 1st post...she's not going to get in the way of your saving your ass! I bet you are the kind of passenger that will jump over a wheelchair, plow down the elderly and children, just to find your damn seat!!!

She should have called Mitt Romneny. When his dog couldn't fit in the car, he strapped him on the roof. When Ann's horse needed to get to London for the Olympics, she sent him there FedEx. I'm sure he'd have found a solution.

She should never have been allowed on a flight that took her far away from the medical attention she obviously required. If she was too large to be seated safely for the return flight then she should never have been seated for the outbound leg. Therein lies the responsibility factor that will no doubt be exploited by the legal team as strongly hinted by the lawyer.

Personal responsibility, people. Personal responsibility. Seems to have gone the way of the dodo.....

Presumably the passenger was approximately the same size and state of health when she tried to return home as when she flew to Europe. If the airlines could get her to Hungary, it seems that they should have been able to get her home. Perhaps the airline should have denied boarding in the USA to begin with if they would later be unable to return her to her home country.

Of course the guy is suing. I think his case has no merit.
There are so many questions. One, why did this woman not have an adequate supply of her medication? Why was said medication not available where she was located?
Why did they not take precautions in case their travel plans did not work out?
Why did she gain weight knowing full well it could jeopardize her ability to fly?
Quite frankly I am sick and tired of aggrieved people attempting to use the civil courts as their a personal lottery terminal.
"Loser Pays" would put a stop to this nonsense.

Should have booked with Atlas Air, she could have been loaded Into one of their 747 freighter's

I have to think that Delta's going to paying something here. The problem will be that they weren't able to clearly identify when/if she met qualifications to fly. They had her on the first flight before deciding she couldn't stay on it, and then sent her to another airport that didn't have a way to meet her needs. That will get them. Plus, their travel agent alerted Delta to her condition when buying the ticket.
On the flip side, the UK article shows she only had one leg as well. So not only did they have to get her on the plane, they had to do it with a wheel chair and figure out how to get her from the wheelchair to the seat. Not fun. Delta should have turned her away from the start, if they couldn't figure out how to accomindate her.

Several years back my wife and I were seated with such a woman on a four hour flight from BOS to IAH. The lady occupied the window and, due to her girth, half the middle seat. Naturally, the arm rest could not be lowered. Rather than balking, my wife, who tops the scales at just over a hundred, helped accommodate her, including allowing her to use her tray table during meal service. (I said it was a long time ago.) The plane in use was a Continental Airlines B737. Not long ago, in response to a complaint about restrictions on carry-on luggage, I recall Continental telling the press that Continental was not Allied Van Lines. I agree! So who flew her to Budapest in the first place? That/those airlines are caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place, because she should not have been accommodated to begin with. Her husband, no doubt, enabled her obesity, and he should get no more than a one dollar judgement. (The shyster taking the case is entitled to 30 cents.)

im 6'5" and 460 pounds,and no..i dont shovel foods into my gapping yaw...i have a medical problem thats causing uncontroled wieght gain,plus im disabled and cannot exercise at all..BUT..i can fit in a seat....im not 3 seats wide..WTH?...how narrow ARE the seats on planes?that maybe the issue here,are the seats on airplane so narrow that they are fit for people like twiggy only?...has the need for bulimia and anorxia come back? if you dont wiegh under 120pounds and are 5'2" inches tall. you cant fly now cause yer too BIG?
its a mute point for me anyway,even if i did wiegh only 200,or 195 again,i would NOT fly commercail anyway...the TSA has ruined that for me..ill take a charter flight from an uncontroled airport,with a private carrierbefore ill ever pass through those criminals hands,and if im in the states..ill just use a train or my car...

The airline is entitled to set limitations on size of occupants, weight, and restrictions on use of and for the prevention of damage to its equipment subject to federal law and protections, and linked also to subsidy payments so we call all fly for a reasonable amount of money, taking all risks and factors into account. I wonder how this would apply to a foreigner on an airline owned in whole or in part by a U.S. company? But I can tell you as a lawyer of 23 years practice: when somebody dies, somebody is getting sued. Period.

Yeah - those damn fat people - we can make fun of them still. I mean its not okay to make fun of people of color or gender or nationality... because we don't want to offend anyone. I mean, its a hate crime to use the "N" word...

But make fun of fat people... HELL YEAH BABY - its the one last ditch place to make fun of people. Hell, sure- they might be sick or have a problem that made them fat, or maybe just an eating problem - but hey They are easy targets - after all, its not like they can chase you down and hit you back

Isn't it nice when mankind can be cruel and there is no way for a person to defend themselves? :)

Lot's of really mean comments on this one.

She should have flown first class, at least the meals have some nutritional value and she could probably fit into the seat unlike the plastic served in coach. I think it would be interesting to see how she fit onto the plane going if she couldn't fit into a row of seats 3 across. My proposal to the airlines is to have an exercise room in the back of the plane for pax and for the crew because both are in desoperate need. Thats one way to solve the issue.