A woman sued Air France in federal court Friday, saying an employee told her she could not board a flight because she has no limbs. Adele Price, 42, who was born with birth defects caused by the leprosy treatment drug thalidomide, said at a news conference the employee told her that "one head, one bottom and one torso cannot and will not be allowed to fly on Air France" without help. | It wasn't as if she was going to charge the cockpit. Or hide a bomb in a shoe. |
Price claims she suffered emotional and psychological damage and endured large expenses to complete a trip from Manchester, England, to New York on Aug. 19, 2000. Price said she paid someone to fly with her and eventually completed the trip. In England, Price had been told by an Air France agent that she would need clearance from an American doctor to return home, according to the lawsuit. When Price provided that clearance to an Air France agent in New York, she was asked for additional medical clearance, which forced her to stay in the United States another five days and cancel all the business she had intended on the trip, the lawsuit said. She eventually bought a ticket on British Airways, which let her travel alone. Chris Maio, a spokeswoman for Air France, declined to comment. | So much for the French being the enlightened ones. |
|