Obese Woman Denied Boarding Saifullah Khan
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, Worldwide Campus

Abstract

56 year old lady weighing 407 pounds was denied boarding by three airlines. Lufthansa and KLM who were not able to provide a seatbelt for her size, and Delta who did not had a wheelchair capable of handling her weight, to carry her to the aircraft. Due to the kidney failure, she died before she could have arrived home, to get the proper treatment. Now her husband holds these airlines responsible for her death and wants to file the law suit against them. The context in this research paper provided the laws associated to this case and justify whether …show more content…

In case of Lowe v American Eurocopter, LLC, 2010, Aycock, S., the federal district court found morbid obesity sufficient for ADA claim (Kluwer, 2012). An obese person is considered disabled per ADAAA, however airlines are explicitly exempted from ADA coverage. ADA Title II, public services, subtitle B covers designated public transportation provided by public entities (Nondiscrimination on the, 1991). 42 USC §12141(b) defines designates public transportation as means of transportation other than transportation by airlines or certain rail operators that provides the general public with general service on a regular and continuing basis (42 USC 12141). This omission permits discrimination in air transportation; the reason is that discrimination against the disabled in air transportation was already prohibited by the Air Carrier Access Act, P.L. 99-435, enacted on 2 October 1986 under 49 USC Subtitle VII Part A Section 41705, which provides provision for discrimination against handicapped individuals. A Carrier cannot discriminate against a qualified individual for the following grounds: 1) The individual has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities (49 USC SUBTITLE §41705). 2) The individual has a record of such impairment (49 USC SUBTITLE §41705). 3) The individual is regarded as having