SALT LAKE CITY — It’s a happening of twisted irony: a journey by air became a complicated one after a passenger ran out of his own.
71-year-old Jaime Jesus Carvajal uses a breathing device. He suffers from chronic obstructive sleep apnea and chronic obstructive asthma.
“I have to have oxygen day and night,” Carvajal said. "I had to travel to Colombia because of my son's health problem. My sister bought me the ticket in Dallas, Texas, and she told me that when I arrived at the airport, I had to check the oxygen concentrator and show the certificate."
Carvajal had his documentation and said he was assured by United Airlines that he would be able to use his breathing device as needed on the flight.
“I spoke with the cabin crew, I spoke personally with the check-in agent, and they gave me the evaluation that yes, everything was fine,” he said.
But the problems began shortly after takeoff.
“Two hours into the flight from Salt Lake City to Houston, the charge ran out,” Carvajal said. "So I called the flight attendant. I was in seat 37F, which is by the window. Then the gentleman moved me from there to 6C, which is the cabin. And there, the connector lit up for a moment. I fell asleep, but that thing, it didn't work... It turned off."
Carvajal says he asked for replacement oxygen.
“Well, the flight attendant made a mistake," he said. "He didn't give me oxygen, but instead moved me from one place to another thinking it was the outlet, and it wasn't the outlet.”
Eventually, he made it to his stop in Panama, where a different airline did accommodate him with the oxygen needed.
But the damage was already done.
Carvajal's medical records from Intermountain Health show he’s been under medical evaluation since then for increased headaches that disrupt his sleep and kidney function, as there was some injury to his kidneys after he was treated with ibuprofen at a hospital during that trip.
“It easily could’ve been prevented. United had multiple chances to do the right thing and they didn’t do it," said David Head, Carvajal's attorney.
Head says they will be filing a suit against United Airlines.
“First of all, they shouldn’t have misrepresented that he would be able to charge his oxygen machine, under the law," Head said. "They can’t make any claims that are deceptive or misrepresentative, so that aspect that they did that was wrong. Another thing that they did that was wrong: they shouldn’t have when he was in a precarious situation, because when you’re on an airplane, it’s not like you can leave; you’re in the middle of the air. They had the ability to help him with this oxygen machine, and they wouldn’t do it on two flights.”
Head says it could be two to three years before a decision is made on the lawsuit. He said he was surprised by a lack of accountability when talking to United's claims division.
When Carvajal reached out, they offered him a $150 flight credit.
“To United, I would tell them to train their employees to be more careful with us elderly people who are vulnerable,” Carvajal said.