Airline loses Alzheimer's patient flying from LaGuardia

New York Daily News via AP ^ | 3/17/2004 | AP

[GAGOPSWEEPTOVICTORY]

ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines lost an 80-year-old man with Alzheimer’s disease who was supposed to have been given an escort between flights in the Atlanta airport, his relatives said.

Antonio Ayala disappeared Monday after his flight landed and he was not found until nearly 24 hours later, near a bus station in downtown Atlanta, several miles from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Police took him to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he was undergoing dialysis treatment Wednesday for a kidney ailment and was listed in good condition, officials said.

Family members said Ayala could have gone into a coma without dialysis.

Ayala was flying from LaGuardia airport to El Paso, Texas, and had to change planes in Atlanta.

“He was supposed to be escorted from one plane to another and it never happened,” said Ayala’s granddaughter, Cecilia Flowers of El Paso, Texas.

Delta officials said the airline is investigating but would not elaborate.

“We are working very closely with the family and we are very pleased the family has been reunited,” Delta spokeswoman Peggy Estes said.

The airline flew Ayala’s relatives to Atlanta and housed them in a hotel while they waited for him to be released from the hospital.

“He’s just glad that I’m here,” Ayala’s son, Antonio Ayala Jr., said at the hospital. “He told me, ’I’ve been crying a lot,’ but he can’t recall what events” happened.

It is not the first time that a person with Alzheimer’s has been lost by an airline. In 2001, Margie Dabney, 70, became separated from her husband during an American Airlines stopover at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Dabney was never found. Last year, her husband, Joe Dabney, agreed to an undisclosed settlement with American Airlines. He had sought $10 million.

[KantianBurke]

Has there been any advances regarding treatment and/ or a vaccine?

[LurkedLongEnough]

Glad it ended happily.
What a combination, Hartsfeld and Alzheimers.

[mewzilla]

Who trusts an airline with their loved one? I don't even trust them with my luggage.

[Alberta's Child]

Sounds like the airline may have Alzheimer's disease, too.

[Servant of the 9]

Hartsfield-Jackson is Airport Hell for the sound of mind and body. I refuse to fly through there.

So9

[mrs tiggywinkle]

**Has there been any advances regarding treatment and/ or a vaccine?**

There's a medication being used in Europe that promises a change for the better (can't recall the name offhand) but it has to go through the FDA before being available to patients.

Perhaps Ms could offer better information on your question, KB. Ms...you around?

My father's wife has alzheimers. She has become combative and is prone to screaming rages and constant babbling. Meds have done little to help her. She used to be the most gentle, kind and precious of ladies. It's truly a tragic disease.

[Moose4]

We love to fly, and it shows.

}:-)4

[KantianBurke]

Thank you for the info. I'm truly sorry to hear about ur mom in law :<

[mrs tiggywinkle]

Thanks, KB. I'm flying to Florida (from Calif) in April to 'help'. Hopefully my father will have admitted her to a care facility before then...for his sake. The stress is soooo severe. I'm realizing more and more that care givers of alzheimer sufferers are forgotten.

[sirshackleton]

Well, Delta should have kept up their end of the bargain and kept an eye on this guy if they said they would. But seriously, why would someone, as a family member, allow an elderly man with Alzheimers to fly by himself without an escort on anything other than a non-stop trip? Especially one who has a kidney ailment requiring dialysis? That's just way too much to entrust to someone else.

[GAGOPSWEEPTOVICTORY]

Well, Delta should have kept up their end of the bargain and kept an eye on this guy if they said they would. But seriously, why would someone, as a family member, allow an elderly man with Alzheimers to fly by himself without an escort on anything other than a non-stop trip? Especially one who has a kidney ailment requiring dialysis? That's just way too much to entrust to someone else.

You can't get from LGA to ELP because of certain perimeter rules limiting where you can go from LaGuardia airport (rules that were designed to keep Newark and Kennedy in business). The only way you may be able to get a non-stop is from Newark. Why they wouldn't escort him themselves is a great question. I know I would have in the same situation.

[Deguello]

"Dabney was never found."

Do you suppose that it was her bones that they found on the airport property a month or so ago?

[Blood of Tyrants]

Good point. My baby sitter has the keys to my house. When she asked if I was sure that I trusted her with the keys, I said, "I trust you with something much more valuable than my television."

[T.Smith]

"Hartsfield-Jackson is Airport Hell for the sound of mind and body. I refuse to fly through there."

I've always found Hartsfield to be one of the easiest airports to navigate. Everything is clearly marked and the trains are always running. Now, Wayne County Airport in Detroit? There is a major cluster...

[sirshackleton]

You can't get from LGA to ELP because of certain perimeter rules limiting where you can go from LaGuardia airport (rules that were designed to keep Newark and Kennedy in business). The only way you may be able to get a non-stop is from Newark. Why they wouldn't escort him themselves is a great question. I know I would have in the same situation.

You know, I definitely should've considered the perimeter rule, since my job requires I have some familiarity with the Washington Reagan perimeter (to help keep Dulles in business when it opened)...I guess I'm just subconciously biased into thinking we're the only shmoes who have that rule :)