Denna Laing demands change after wheelchair damaged twice on Delta flights
CANTON - Denna Laing has kept her confidence and her independence with the help of a power wheelchair, ever since she was paralyzed while playing with the Boston Pride at Gillette Stadium during the Winter Classic in 2016.
"One of the biggest things that people with paralysis try to gain back is any sort of independence so that chair is how I get around and how I limit having to ask for help," Laing said.
Now, the former pro hockey player says some of her independence was robbed during a disastrous experience with Delta Air Lines over the weekend.
She sat on board a plane that landed at Logan Airport for more than an hour while waiting for Delta employees to bring her wheelchair to the jet bridge. Once she finally deboarded, Laing learned that her chair was broken. A Delta employee told her that a lever on the chair had broken and that the wheels were stuck in a locked position.
Laing says she sat uncomfortably in an airport wheelchair for more than three hours, waiting to assess the damage to her chair and file a claim.
"I'm at high risk for pressure sores when I don't have the right chair, the right support," she said.
Her father checked on the chair the next day and found it sitting in a Delta bag room where it remained until Tuesday.
"Not acceptable that my chair was left overnight in the bag room," Laing said.
And worse, Laing says this is not the first time she has filed a claim with Delta for damaging her chair. She says they also broke parts of the chair during a trip in March.
"This has happened twice in the last couple months, just to me, and I'm definitely not the only story here," she said.
Airlines have mishandled over 2,000 wheelchairs and scooters between January and March of this year, according to Air Travel Consumer Report. Delta was responsible for 270 of those incidents. American Airlines was responsible for more than 300.
Delta released a statement in response to Laing's experience saying, "We consider a wheelchair an extension of a person and understand that any mishandling of this mobility device directly impacts their daily living. We are affirmatively working with the customer to make things right and apologize for their experience."
Laing now has to wait for repairs to her chair, paid for by Delta's insurance. She says she has little confidence in the airline industry.
"I can't wait for one of these days, for one of these airlines to take this seriously and become the go to for people in wheelchairs that want to be flying," Laing said, "I'm not holding my breath unfortunately but that would be a nice day."
