A wrongful death lawsuit was recently filed against Alaska Airlines by a Spokane Valley woman after she claimed “a contractor failed to escort their elderly mother to her gate for a flight to Spokane.” Because of that failure, the elderly woman, Bernice Kekona, fell down an escalator and her injuries from the fall led to her death in September. The lawsuit itself was filed on behalf of Kekona’s eldest child, Darlene Bloyed, and was filed in “King County Superior Court in Seattle, where Alaska Airlines is based.”
A wrongful death lawsuit was recently filed against Alaska Airlines by a Spokane Valley woman after she claimed “a contractor failed to escort their elderly mother to her gate for a flight to Spokane.” Because of that failure, the elderly woman, Bernice Kekona, fell down an escalator and her injuries from the fall led to her death in September. The lawsuit itself was filed on behalf of Kekona’s eldest child, Darlene Bloyed, and was filed in “King County Superior Court in Seattle, where Alaska Airlines is based.”
Born and raised in Hawaii, Kekona “moved to Spokane Valley in 2012 to live with Bloyed after having a leg amputated following complications from diabetes.” Because of that, Bloyed and the rest of Kekona’s family “always made it a point to request gate-to-gate service for Kekona whenever she traveled by airplane,” according to the lawsuit.
When discussing her client, Spokane attorney Brook Cunningham, who is representing Kekona in the lawsuit, said:
“She was living here for the health care. For the last three years before this, she had traveled back to Maui for one-month stays using the exact same service that was requested in the same exact way. And she got the service on the first leg of her trip.”
So what kind of injuries did Kekona sustain in her fall down the escalator? Well, according to the lawsuit, she “suffered several cuts, bruises and a severe injury to the Achilles tendon in her remaining leg.” Unfortunately, the injury to the Achilles tendon became infected and her entire leg was later amputated in an effort to battle the infection. Sadly, the infection was too severe and she died as a result.
In a statement regarding the matter, Cunningham, along with attorney Troy Nelson, said: “Between her injury and her death, Bernice incurred almost $300,000 in medical bills to treat her injuries from the fall.” They added that Kekona’s “family checked with Alaska Airlines officials to make sure that she would have the same gate-to-gate service that they had requested and received on all previous flights, including the connection flight earlier that day to Seattle.”
Nelson added to the statement, saying:
“Things broke down on the way home. The family called on three separate occasions to make sure she would get the gate-to-gate service in Portland. Bernice was the last person off the plane. They put her in her personal wheelchair … and then left her wandering by herself to find her flight home to Spokane.”
In response to the allegations and pending lawsuit, Bobbie Egan, the media relations director for Alaska Airlines issued the following statement:
“We’re heartbroken by this tragic and disturbing incident. After landing in Portland, Ms. Kekona was assisted into her own motorized scooter by an airport consortium wheelchair service provider who then escorted her from the aircraft into the concourse. Once in the concourse, she went off on her own…Company officials learned from bystanders that Kekona had fallen down the escalator, still strapped to her motorized scooter. We immediately called the Port of Portland Fire and Rescue, along with Port of Portland Police, who responded to the scene quickly to provide her medical treatment.”
Additionally, Alaska Airlines also disputed Cunningham and Nelson’s account, claiming the “family failed to check the box that would indicate Kekona was a passenger with other special needs.” In fact, Egan said that Alaska Airlines doesn’t yet have all the facts, though a preliminary investigation revealed that Kekona may have “declined ongoing assistance in the terminal and proceeded on her own to her connecting flight.”
However, according to the lawsuit, “Alaska Airlines claimed to have requested the gate-to-gate service for Kekona from its contractor, Huntleigh USA Corporation, though Huntleigh officials claim that Alaska Airlines failed to communicate that Kekona had requested the gate-to-gate assistance.” It added that after being left in her chair in the terminal, Kekona “became confused as she looked for her gate to Spokane. At one point, Kekona showed her ticket to an Alaska Airlines employee and asked for help, but the employee failed to provide her the gate-to-gate assistance as required” under the law.
When discussing that particular law, Nelson said, “by law, all air carriers are required to provide gate-to-gate escort service for disabled persons. It’s not something they voluntarily provide. When it’s requested, it’s required.” He added, “had Bernice’s family known this gate-to-gate assistance was not going to be provided on the trip at issue, they would never have sent her on that trip.”
Sources:
Alaska Airlines sued for wrongful death after elderly woman falls down escalator
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