EasyJet is known as an airline that reduces travel to just above a cattle car. However, the airline reaches a new low recently when it refused to allow professor Martin Birchall of Bristol University to board a plane with a medical container because it was larger than the 100 milliliter limit for a liquid. Birchall showed the airline that it contained a specially treated trachea needed within hours in Barcelona or the vital organ (and months of work) would be lost. While he insisted that he had previously consulted with the airline, they insisted that they had no record of the request and that he would have to leave the organ behind. That is when a medical student stepped forward and saved the day.
The trachea was a medical breakthrough — seeded with 60 million stem cells from the woman in Barcelona. It had to be implanted within 16 hours or all would be lost. EasyJet could not be bothered with such concerns. It was still over 100 milliliter. Maybe if he could stuff it into a coke bottle? Even though supervisors were fully informed of the problem, they refused to allow the package onboard. It would seem an easy thing once you inspect the item, confirm the credentials of the professor, and x-ray the item. You could even place it in the cockpit. You could act like a human being.
That is when medical student (and part-time superhero) Philipp Jungerbluth told Birchall that he had a pilot friend in Germany with a small jet and arranged with his friend to fly the container to Spain at cost ($21,000). Birchall paid on the spot and the woman’s trachea was saved.
Here is the part I love. Not only is EasyJet standing by its decision but it refused to reimburse Birchall for his 70 pound ticket.
Source: NPR
Well we have another situation where my next consumer decision has been made for me. I have scratched EasyJet off my list of airlines to use. However, EasyJet will not make the number one slot. RyanAir already has that one sewn up.
It’s nice to see that the U.S. is not the only country with airline employees utterly lacking in common sense and human decency. OTOH, it’s terrible that the absence of common sense and human decency is so widespread. Actions like that I would have only expected from RyanAir! And even they would have allowed the organ on if the good professor had paid a bit of extra money.
Seriously, though, are people such mindless drones these days that they cannot think? The trouble with common sense is that it isn’t…
“Here is the part I love. Not only is EasyJet standing by its decision but it refused to reimburse Birchall for his 70 pound ticket.”
Swell fellas.
By any chance, is Bank of America or Capitol One a part owner in this airline? I think I have run into this business model before, so just wondering.
Now I understand why some Europeans call the airline “SleazyJet.”
Dredd,
Cattle cars with wings describes Easyjet….
“Here is the part I love. Not only is EasyJet standing by its decision but it refused to reimburse Birchall for his 70 pound ticket.”
*********************
Banality of evil comes to mind.
This is something you might not like. Medical subject. Sorry in advance.
The ConaAgra plant where I worked processed dairy cows, among others. Some of the cows were pregnant when they were killed. There was a special process for collecting the fetal blood from the bovine fetuses after the cows were killed. It was used for medical research.
I am normally a peaceful easygoing guy, but one of the things in this life that brings out the rage in me is the stupidity of the bureaucratic mind that prizes “The Rules” over rationality. The components of this type of situation can vary with the circumstance and the officious idiot enforcing “The Rules”. Sometimes it ca be fear of taking responsibility, other times the enjoyment of minor authority. Just reading this piece made me angry.
What OS said.
What Mike S and AY said.
The problem with today’s minds, is that they cannot
Think on its own ! The constant producing and inducing
Laws and more laws upon more laws,makes the human mind
Inhuman
Why wasn’t he using a medical courier? If I needed that trachea and found out that the guy bringing it to me was using public transport which is prone to all sorts of problems and delays I wouldn’t have much faith about it getting to me in time. For all that work to potentially go to waste just because someone wanted a cheap flight is ridiculous.
Luna,
The human mind is what it is. Always has been.
The idea is to be nice to each other. Don’t be quick to blame somebody for something they might not be responsible for. Also, don’t give people a pass if it’s obvious they don’t deserve it.
Is that complicated?
wow .. think how much fuel they could save if they lightened up those 70 pound tickets … lol
Why is the author making this all about EasyJet. I’m sure EasyJet was abiding by rules put in place by the government. If they had let the guy on with the trachea, EasyJet may have been facing a hefty fine. He wouldn’t have been able to get that Trachea on board any airline in America either depending on what container it was in and how much liquid it contained. This is a consequence of government regulation and rules enforced on private airlines via fines. I’m guessing this is not a problem with EasyJet, per se. Why didn’t the professor insist on some kind of receipt or confirmation that he was in fact allowed to have that container on the plane? Surely he knows that airports are a bureaucratic nightmare on every possible level.
Wow! These airline security folks need a course in basic thinking skills. A person could have died because they refused to use their heads. In light of EasyJet’s management’s decision to double down and not refund the ticket price, it seems that we have a case of the blind leading the blind.
Nothing anti-Semitic, just a kick aimed at mankinds pitifulness and religion in general. Ready?
In spite of the “cover story” provided by Matt, the fetal blood when properly blessed and prayed over is used as a substitute for goyim children’s to make the hot dogs kosher. NB JOKE Awake now?
My point of course is that the bureaucratic mind and those bearing them are close kin to those who believe in a faith, ie religion. They follow it because they are told to do so.
And as someone speculated, it does give them a since of power, however so small. The “I am holier than thou” is an all too commonly found position.***
Now food hygiene and food quality are legit, but religion was one step too far.
BTW, anyone know if Hebrew National is available in Sweden?
Heard here it tasted good. Recommendations do count when it concerns food taste.
***This is a very large subject, of which some here are
much better acquainted than I.
Jkat, LOL
BTW, anyone know if Hebrew National is available in Sweden?
Heard here it tasted good. Recommendations do count when it concerns food taste.
==========
http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/06/18/swedish-wolves-kill-zookeeper-who-raised-them/
Hot dogs? Is this really being rude?
Guess thay were at the middle-school age. See other thread.
What are the odds that Prof. Birchall is now on a permanent “No FLY” list courtesy of SleezyAir?
More than a few folks weren’t thinking. I’m with a commenter who suggests that it was crazy to book on a cheap flight who is subject to all kinds of delays when they are transporting such a valuable organ.
Obviously a collision between a bureaucrat and common sense. Who usually wins?
Drones. I’m sure they said at some point “We can’t allow the organ on the flight because doing so poses a safety risk.”
Better that the patient who was to receive the trachea died. Especially since the trachea would have otherwise blown up the aircraft.
What ever happened to the days when a person could just say “I’m going to turn my back now, hopefully you won’t sneak past and board the plane, : WINK Hint, hint, nudge, nudge say-no-more.”
Not crazy to book a fight when you clear it beforehand. the crazy part is the airline had no record of this conversation or clearance. This is the problem in most corporations. No one knows what anyone else is doing so you have to get clearance at each step. People complain about government agencies, but any company that grows too big has all the same problems with inefficiencies. Size matters, and in the case of businesses, smaller is better.
Darren,
They disappeared with big brother monitoring at all control points. Same place as the green pass went.
There was an Irish budget mentioned on NPR the other night…Derry Air. Guess nobody tried calling them.
Hi Jonathan..just FYI re what Easyjet has to say about this. This morning, I asked Easyjet “Did Easyjet really do this?” (with a link to your column) on their Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/easyJet), and they answered, “This unfortunate incident in 2008 occurred when the passenger was refused by Airport Security for carrying items that were prohibited. Sadly we don’t make these rules.”
Hmm let’s see, lawsuit, lawyers, goodwill down the tubes, loss of future business. Sounds like Easy Jet will be losing More than the value of the $70 ticket. The collateral damage alone could do them in.
Everyone complaining about EasyJet in your post, I believe your anger is misplaced in this instance. It was not “airline security” keeping him off the plane, it was airport security; government agents. It really doesn’t matter if he notified the airline–it is not up to them. The UK Dept. for Transport makes the rules, not the airline.
Most of you miss the point, those people enjoyed doing what they did. I’ve seen this stuff far too often.
Nothing makes some people feel better than making someone else miserable. So if you give them the power to make that happen, then they will use it.
The ‘rules’ are just camouflage, because in reality there is always flexibility and discretion, they are just a way to exert power over others to their detriment and your pleasure.
I’ll bet they had a good laugh down at the pub afterwards.
don’t trust the professor, it could be a disguised bomb. why not a medical courier ?
As a few people have already said, transporting a vital organ across europe with a low cost airline?! Please. The airline “refused to board”? No, security at the airport would’ve refused the passenger. Bags aren’t searched when you board an aircraft, gate staff and crew don’t really give a damn what you’ve got in your bag unless it’s dangerous, and they wouldn’t have a clue what’s in your bag unless it said “biohazard” or some other dangerous goods label showing. “Airline security” doesn’t exist, airlines leave the security to airports to deal with passengers. If security arrest you for having a grenade in your bag that’s not the airline that has given the command.
So much hate for the airline but if you had an idea of how things work behind the scenes and actually knew your stuff (which isn’t alot more than common sense at the end of the day) you’d understand. And the conspiracy theorists that think the airline is out to get them and people only do things to make your life difficult; please. Why would they piss off fare paying passengers, thus creating bad publicity, thus costing the company money?
Ignorance is rife in here. Not everybody is out to make the world a terrible place.