Delta revises policy over in-flight medical assistance requests
Monday, 22 Dec, 2016
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Delta Air Lines says it has revised its policy when calling for assistance during in-flight medical emergencies.
The airline took flak for refusing the help of an African-American doctor during a Detroit to Houston flight two months ago.
Dr. Tamika Cross’ request to help was rebuffed by a flight attendant who told her: "We are looking for actual physicians or nurses or some type of medical personnel. We don’t have time to talk to you.’"
"Whether this was race, age, gender discrimination, it’s not right," Cross said in a social media post which garnered more than 150,000 likes and thousands of comments.
Cross said a white male then showed flight crew his medical credentials and was allowed to help.
Following the incident Delta said it was ‘troubled by any accusations of discrimination’ and conducted an internal review.
"The feedback Dr. Cross provided gave us a chance to make flying better," said Delta in-flight service senior vice president Allison Ausband.
"As part of the review, Delta found that there is no legal or regulatory requirement upon the airline to view medical professional credentials," Delta said.
Passengers now just need to confirm they are qualified as a physician, physician assistant, a nurse, paramedic or EMT.
Delta also said it will conduct inclusion training for employees with flight attendant groups the first to participate.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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