Denied Boarding While Pregnant: What Are Your Rights?
Dear Tripped Up,On the evening of July 19, six members of my family were set to fly La Compagnie, a French business-class-only airline, from Newark Liberty International Airport to Nice, France, for a long-planned trip that included the Paris Olympics.When my husband and I arrived at the airport, the other four had already gone through security.
The La Compagnie agent congratulated me on my (obvious) pregnancy and asked how far along I was.I answered truthfully: 28 weeks and a day.
She said I needed a letter from my doctor saying I was OK to fly.But every doctor and midwife I had spoken to about the trip reassured me it was safe, including the midwife I saw the day before at my 28-week checkup.
Even though she was attending someone else’s labor that evening, she managed to send a letter, first through a patient portal and then via email directly to La Compagnie, along with her provider identifier number and, when the staff insisted, a photo of her hospital ID.But even after I did everything they asked, the agent told me the crew had determined I could not board.
The La Compagnie desk was closing for the night, and the agent gave me a number to call to rebook.But with no guarantee I would be able to fly, even if there were seats available in the coming days, we booked a flight for the next evening on Air France for about $6,560 each — a steep increase from our $3,530 La Compagnie tickets.
La Compagnie offered to return the original $3,530 each, but I believe they were wrong to deny us boarding and should compensate us for the cost of the last-minute flight instead.Can you help? Emma, Brooklyn, N.Y.Dear Emma,Your frustrating and ultimately expensive evening in Newark raises a number of questions, but the thorniest is: How much responsibility did you have to verify the pregnancy policy of the airline before you traveled?It turns out La Compagnie is one of a small group of global airlines — including Turkish, Ryanair, Qantas and Cathay Pacific — that requi...