James, 51, says he was "singled out" by an airline employee for not appearing to require pre-boarding due to his disability
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NEED TO KNOW
- James, a disabled traveler, says a gate agent questioned whether he needed to pre-board when passengers with disabilities were called
- He claims the incident left him physically exhausted and feeling singled out despite using a cane for mobility
- United Airlines apologized for his experience but stated he pre-boarded in compliance with federal disability regulations
After attending the launch party of his company in Los Angeles, a New Jersey man expected to board his flight home without a hitch.
James, 51, who asked to be identified without a last name due to online harassment, tells PEOPLE he used to travel “extensively” for work. The former locomotive specialist says his job took him all over North America to do “all kinds of nasty, gritty work for different cities.”
However, James' travels have recently been significantly reduced to only four or five trips per year. In 2019, the Edison resident says he got “really sick.”
“It basically took me from a very strong, 235-pound railway worker to a 152-pound, three-time amputee surgery survivor,” says James, whose multiple amputations were to his lower limbs. “And my cardiovascular system is taking the absolute worst of it. I've got no stamina.”
So when the recently retrained AI software developer needed to fly cross-country to attend an event, his wife helped arrange his travels in a way to make him most comfortable. She even “splurged” on a business-class seat.
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James largely moves around on his own using a cane. But for this May 24 return trip, the couple claims to have organized an attendant who'd help James get around the airport more easily using a wheelchair.
“They wheeled me into the lounge where I just sort of relaxed, and ate and drank and read and did what I needed to for the day. And then, at the time for boarding, I had wheelchair service pick me up and take me to the gate,” James says.
When he arrived, he says he noticed three “elderly ladies” were sitting in wheelchairs in the pre-boarding line. As a “seasoned traveler,” James says he knows wheelchairs on the jetbridge can “slow things down,” so he volunteered to get out of his seat and walk the short distance down the ramp.
James claims he waited in line for 10 or 15 minutes due to a delay, which sent him to the “edge of my physical tolerance.” A gate agent then allowed the other women to board, and James followed along, walking with his cane. But the gate agent allegedly approached the man and questioned his need for pre-boarding.
“She looked at me and she said, ‘No, you can wait with all the rest,' in front of everybody, and I was just dumbfounded by it,” James says. “I was just absolutely in shock that I was singled out so clearly by this gate agent.”
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James, who says he was exhausted from standing that long, claims he wasn't even able to find a chair in the heat of the moment. It wasn't until another passenger who witnessed the exchange piped in to give James “the courage to continue.”
At the end of the jetbridge, James says he once again faced the gate agent and addressed the encounter. “I said, ‘It wasn't very nice of you to single me out like that. I have a right to pre-board.' And she goes, ‘I did what I was supposed to do, sir.'”
He adds: “I was really prepared to let it go and just get into my seat, enjoy my meal and go home. But talking to my wife about it, it just made me feel like, how disabled do you have to be in order to pass the bar? And how much suffering do I need to demonstrate in order to qualify?”
“I'm a 6 '1” man who looks like he's got a decent stature. To assume that I'm healthy, even though I'm standing there with a cane, I think that's pretty ignorant," he says. "Anybody who sees me walk four or five steps knows that I'm not [able-bodied]."
Following the exchange, James submitted a complaint to the airline's customer care and disability/special assistance departments. In it, he claimed a “gate agent refused my request for pre-boarding, telling me I have to wait in front of everyone.”
In the company's response, reviewed by PEOPLE, United said, “Our review and records show you did board with the early boarding call and before general boarding began in compliance with federal disability regulations.” In the future, they advised James to contact an airport Complaint Resolution Official “to resolve disability-related service issues.”
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“First off, getting a red coat means that I'm gonna have to be pulled aside and wait for that supervisor to arrive, because you know they're not at the gate, or this wouldn't have happened," James says in reaction to the airline's correspondence.
In a statement shared with PEOPLE, a United Airlines spokesperson said “while our records indicate that [James] did in fact pre-board correctly, we have reached out to him and apologized for his experience.”
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