“Are you kidding me?”: Woman shocked over uncompassionate $48K airfare
Linda Schulman had just received the news every parent fears. Her son Scott Beigel was dead, shot at the school he works for as a teacher. He had died unlocking the classroom door to let students in to hide from the gunman.
The New York woman did everything she could to get to her son’s side at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
All the flights to the area were sold out but she finally found one with a private jet charter company Talon Air. Within 90 minutes, she, along with her husband and brother, were flying to Florida.
Days later, the grieving mother was handed a bill for the flight costing $US36,000 ($A48,000).
She begged the company to show some compassion and slash the exorbitant bill but they refused. So Ms Schulman took to Facebook.
“Today marks day 74 since my son Scott J. Beigel was shot and killed senselessly at the Parkland massacre,” she wrote in the April 30 post. “I have waited all this time in hopes that the owner of Talon Air, Inc. would show some compassion, but as you read on you will see that unfortunately he has not.”
Ms Schulman says she had no problem with paying for the service but she took issue with the fact she was charged for the return flight which she hadn’t even travelled on.
“Even though I had never chartered a plane before, I knew it was going to be super expensive,” she wrote. “It didn’t matter what the cost — I had to get to my son!
“Talon Air, Inc. not only charged us $US18,229.57 one way, they charged us another $US18,229.56 to bring the plane back to Farmingdale because they did not have anyone wanting to charter the plane back from Fort Lauderdale. Really?”
She added: “I have no problem accepting that I have to pay for one way, even the fuel charge for the return flight ... but $US18,229.56 for the return of the plane? Where is the compassion from Talon Air, Inc.?”
She pointed to the fact that victims’ families were offered free flights on JetBlue at the time.
Finally, the company’s CEO Adam Katz responded and set things right, offering to refund the cost of the one-way flight and donate the remaining airfare to charity.
“You have endured the greatest tragedy that no parent should have to confront,” he wrote in a letter.
“No parent should have to go through what you and so many other parents have endured. My heart goes out to each and every one who has suffered so much pain, anguish and loss by virtue of this senseless act of violence.”
He added: “I apologise for how poorly Talon initially handled this tragic matter.”