Chicongo's O'Hare does its legendary thing (again)

Woman in wheelchair whose O'Hare flight was canceled left alone at airport,
family says

Lauren Zumbach
Chicago Tribune
Dec. 3, 2018

American Airlines is investigating how a 67-year-old woman in a wheelchair
was left alone into the early morning hours Saturday at Chicago's O'Hare
International Airport when her flight was canceled.

The incident started Friday night when Olimpia Warsaw's flight from Chicago
to Detroit was canceled and a porter was assigned to take care of her. Her
son, Claude Coltea, said Warsaw was offered a hotel room, but she didn’t
know how to get there on her own and was worried about staying overnight
because she didn’t have her medications with her. The porter left her
unattended at the airport when his shift was over, Coltea said.

Coltea and Warsaw were in Chicago for her ex-husband’s funeral and were
booked on flights scheduled to depart around 10 p.m. Coltea said his mother
has Parkinson’s disease and diabetes and has trouble communicating. He
waited with her at her gate until he had to leave to catch his own flight,
he said. He didn’t realize her flight had been delayed until he got a call
from his stepfather, who was supposed to meet Warsaw at the airport in
Detroit, saying she never arrived.

Warsaw’s cellphone had died, so family couldn’t reach her, Coltea said. He
contacted the airline, which wasn’t aware she had not made it to the hotel,
he said. In the meantime, his stepmother and half-brother in Chicago went to
O’Hare and, with help from airport security, found Warsaw around 1:30 a.m.

“Everyone handed her off, and she was left sitting at the airport,� Coltea
said.

The airline refunded Warsaw’s ticket, and she made it to Detroit on Saturday
afternoon, Coltea said.

He said he thinks airlines should treat travelers who depend on extra
assistance more like unaccompanied minors.

“If someone is traveling who has a dependency, then someone along that chain
needs to say, ‘I’m not going to let go of this person until they are in safe
hands,’ � Coltea said.

American spokeswoman Leslie Scott said in a statement that the airline is
investigating the incident with the vendor that provides its wheelchair
services at O’Hare.

"While this investigation is still underway, we are already developing a
process with our vendor to ensure this does not happen again," Scott said.

The incident was first reported by WBBM-Ch. 2 in Chicago.