ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, September 21, 1996 TAG: 9609230055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
note: below
A Botetourt County passenger who sued Delta Airlines for refusing to let him on a flight because of the airline's own mix-up has no case, a federal judge in Roanoke has ruled. He said airline deregulation exempts the company from state laws involving customer services.
James Smith, a sales representative for H.B. Fuller Co., was not allowed to board an airplane in Cincinnati last October because officials at the Roanoke airport, where he began his trip, failed to follow new safety procedures and check his identification. He was flying on Comair Inc., Delta's commuter airline.
He missed his connecting flight to Minneapolis and was held in the Cincinnati airport for several hours before he was told what the problem was, his suit says.
After he repeatedly demanded an explanation, Comair's customer service manager arrived at the gate half an hour later and told Smith he would not be allowed to fly out of Cincinnati on any flight. After several hours and a call to Cincinnati police to have him removed from the airport, Comair finally let him fly back to Roanoke.
Although Smith was "seriously inconvenienced" because of the airline, Delta and Comair are exempt from state laws relating to rates, routes or services as a result of airline deregulation in 1978, U.S. District Judge Samuel Wilson said. He ruled that Comair's boarding procedures are a "service" that cannot be regulated by states.
"The inconvenience to Smith was regrettable, especially since Smith was without fault, but passenger inconvenience is a small price to pay for safety," Wilson wrote in an opinion this week. "If every passenger who was denied boarding permission could sue the airline, officials would be reluctant to make the difficult boarding decisions necessary to security.
"Airlines must have wide latitude in boarding procedures to provide security for all passengers, and courts should not interfere with those security decisions."
Wilson ruled in Comair's favor before the case went to trial because, he said, Smith could not win.
Smith's attorney, Randy Cargill, said, "This is a perfect example why Congress should step in and provide exceptions to the statute, [which] otherwise immunizes airlines and their personnel from this sort of egregious conduct."
Comair's Roanoke workers had forgotten to ask for Smith's photo identification to comply with a Federal Aviation Administration requirement that had just gone into effect the day before Smith's flight. The rule requires airlines to check identification of all travelers when they check in for a flight.
Smith sought $1.45 million in damages from Delta and Comair, accusing them of false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Comair agents held him back, simply telling him to "step aside" as the plane took off without him.
LENGTH: Medium: 59 linesby CNB