not mine. This is a big waste, what about all the other people in the world that LHR could go to a little extra trouble to help instead. The cost would pay for more ground crew, or maybe even train baggage handlers to not lose luggage quite so often.
I'm all for being good to fellow humans, but as Spock said, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
And what do you suggest we do for Aaran Stewart? Tough luck? People can handle losing their luggage once in a while. I doubt putting the money it costs to do this (how much is it anyway? Just paying for staff and a couple rearrangements made well in advance?) would improve baggage handling anyways. Aaran obviously can't handle flying differently, and it sounds like an important flight.
I get why people like arguments of this form, but they never work.
You see it all the time on Wikipedia. "If only we banned [topic speaker doesn't care about] we could finally make some progress on [topic speaker does care about]." But it ignores how people really work.
If you yell at people doing something good, they're not going to go do the other good thing you want. They're correctly going to ignore you. If you force the issue, they'll leave. Or if they can't, they'll turn into perfunctory drones.
It's not like BA's spending some large amount of money on this. I see no additional expense at all. The people doing it are doing it out of love and compassion. There's no reason to think that this will prevent them from being loving and compassionate to others. If anything, it may help other travelers, in that these people are a) developing their capacity to care about their customers as people, and b) doing something that provides much-needed variety in a parade of hurried, anxious, grumpy, entitled customers.
Me too. I'm really struggling with all the negative comments in here! Loved the story, thought I'd delve in to the comments to find more heart-warming goodness, but no...
I wonder how accommodating Logan is in Boston. Or JFK for that matter. Flying internationally via JFK (in my completely subjective assessment) is actually less painful than flying between destinations in the U.S. Flying locally can be a nightmare and a half for most able-bodied folks.
I think this would do a bit of a disservice to the disabled person. I'd think creating a somewhat dishonest alternate or augmented reality is a recipe for disaster. (What happens when he takes the glasses off and realizes that everything he has come to know is suddenly different?)
If the person can fully grasp the differences (and realizes that what they are seeing isn't reality), then I could completely be on board with that.
That's probably straying a bit too far. In reality the person is likely completely aware that they obsessive compulsive, faking otherwise is just a little unkind.
Logistically, this is a pretty big expense; there must be a significant number of people involved to make this happen, considering the likely FAA regulations concerning flight numbers.
Hats off to both the airport staff for being willing and able to make this as seamless as it sounds like it is, and to the parents who realized the importance of making this a priority for their child.
FAA regulations in the UK? You're thinking of the ICAO or CAA.
I'm also pretty sure that there aren't many regulations on flight numbers. As long as ATC knows who you are, the government doesn't care what you tell your passengers you are.
> I'm also pretty sure that there aren't many regulations on flight numbers.
And generally there are so many flights airborne in UK airspace that the published flight number isn't the one given to ATC.
For example, EZY26FR currently overhead my location is published in the timetables as EZY602, but that number can be easily misheard, misquoted or subject to namespace collision on the radio so the airlines are encouraged to use alpha-num callsigns instead.
It really annoys me as someone who likes consistency. Why not just publish the actual callsign in the timetable instead of maintaining two systems and cross-referencing between them?
Obviously I know nothing about this person, or the persons particular disability. But I've done a whole lot of work (> 5 years) with autistic kids and a fair amount of training.
Hats off to the airport staff for being so accommodating, definitely. But I wonder about the parents. They've gone to great lengths to ensure their son is able to travel and their heart is in the right place. But what happens when the airport can no longer facilitate these conditions? The shit storm that will be unleashed will be ferocious since his expectations have been set in stone over time.
I understand that routine is very important to a number of autistic people. But not everything can be controlled. Staff move on, different passengers travel on different days and the weather changes. There are infinite variables.
My particular strategy would be to control the things that can be controlled. Introduce artificial events that you can keep constant. Perhaps a set of clothes designed only for flights. A trip to a fast food outlet on the way to the airport. A particular toy or electronic device (radio?) for the trip. This all sets up an expectation for what is about to happen, hopefully reducing the need for specific events - like the same airport staff being in a particular place, or the same seats on a flight.
And maybe the parents have tried all of this before or know it just won't work with their son. Everybody is different, and not all strategies work with the same people. But I think they're setting themselves up big time if they don't start slowly removing the 'constants' that can't be indefinitely controlled.
Who paid for this? I frequently fly from Heathrow and it's a horrible airport, run into service problems almost every time. Yet they can do all this for one person.
Always understaffed, bad organization (e.g. gates announced late), too small for the number of people it serves, particularly rude staff a lot of whom are on a power trip... I've seriously never had a bad experience that comes close to the average day in Heathrow.
What do you intend to get from the "particularly rude staff"? It's likely there is nothing they can help you with: you get a seat on the flight you paid for, and a voucher for future travel if they can't provide that seat. They have no other obligations and I'm not really sure what people demand.
I'll agree on the gate thing, though. They really want you to sit around in that god damned shopping mall for as long as possible. Get elite status and sit in the lounge. Much better.
Honestly, i prefer they announce the gate let, if only so they don't do what they used to o, and swap it around t the last minute. This is much more consistent, been if it does make ams a little anxious.
One example... many airlines have a one bag policy, in most airports if you have an extra camera bag or small handbag, the staff will politely ask you to put it inside the bigger one or most of the time let you off, in London you can guarantee somebody will shout at you for it. It's not one particular thing, it's the general feel of the airport.
Yes, this is something I notice a lot on frequent flyer forums: people being mad because today they didn't get an exception they usually get. Once you let the rules slide once, people are outraged that you don't let it happen every time.
Well, i believe they are currently building new terminal to replace terminals 1 and 2 its meant to be a very nice building, and from what little o've seen of it i'd agree.
Most likely covered under the disability laws in the UK. It doesn't seem to make anyone go that far out of their way if there's enough warning in advance.
Actually Heathrow is a terrible airport. I had a connecting flight through there and swore I'll get on a scrappy prop plane via Djibouti first before doing that again.
The security "might" be impressive, but often there's no real coordination so I've felt this is largely theater. I was wandering around while looking for the security office and not once was I stopped and asked where I was going.
No one knew where the security office was. One of my travel companions got lost and wound up there and I had to ask 6 different people (I don't know if they were security, but had uniforms and radios) and all of them gave me the "try over there" treatment.
Gate announcements are invariably late so you either make it barely on time or not at all. I know this is something we have to keep an eye on, but tired people tend to fall asleep.
It also doesn't help that it's one of the most confusing airports I've ever been through. Probably only second to Charles De Gaulle. The language used on most sign posts is English, allegedly, but of no dialect I'm familiar with and with no obviousness at a distance.
I don't know if they've changed these things since the last time (it's been a couple of years), but it was really quite terrible.
The key behind this would be strong anti-discrimination EU legislation [1] which means both the airport and the airline are responsible for disabled passengers. [2]
I'm genuinely curious and it wasn't addressed at all in the post - how did he make his first trip? Wasn't ALL of it novel the first time? Yet subsequent trips ALL of it has to be same or his stress level goes up?
I have a friend whose son is mildly autistic, and each new thing in his life has to be introduced in a specific way. For example, a new shirt will be brought into his room for several days for him to look at and touch. Once he's used to that he'll try it on, but he'll almost immediately take it off for the 'right' shirt that day. This can go on for several weeks, before he'll wear it in the house, but he still won't leave the house without putting on the 'right' shirt. He actually has a job, but it took almost six months from when he was hired until he would wear the full uniform for the job, because each piece of the uniform (and of course the job itself) had to be introduced in this fashion.
My friend's son is only considered 'mildly' autistic. I simply can't image going through a major airport the first time with someone like this. Once the pattern is established, yes, it's a challenge to keep it going ... but what about the first time?
1. You explain over a long period of time (weeks/months?) that you'll be travelling and what you'll be doing. The person is able to slowly come to terms with a change in routine before it happens. You set up a "new routine" for that particular day. Curiosity is engaged, and you have a relatively painless experience.
2. All of the above, but you do it really tough, with lots of screaming and distress.
Once a routine is learnt, it's really difficult to break. But you can create new routines for different environments. Preparation is generally key.
For some people, once they've been introduced to something, it becomes burned in as the "correct" way of doing it, and any alteration to that procedure or arrangement will be a source of panic and confusion.
There are some people who are stuck in a state where everything is new, they can't make memories. For some it's the opposite, they can't alter what they already know without a whole lot of friction.
There was a hint in the post about the real solution: he should've been pushed in via wheelchair on his first visit to avoid his having to be accommodated in a different way in the future.
My daughter is "on the spectrum" and we try very hard to not create situations that require us to jump through hoops to avoid her autistic meltdowns. If she makes unreasonable requests, we have to say no and steer her away.
For instance, at one point she asked us to remove the tags from her stuffed animal. Then it became a requirement to remove all tags. It's taken a while to cure her if that trigger.
On the other hand, if we ever need to know the name of a particular dinosaur, she has us covered.
I wonder if this would at all be even considered in a US airport. I have also an unusual condition that falls under ADA protection, and have gotten into the position of having to ask for (what I thought was very reasonable, but unusual in so far as accommodation requests go) accommodation and was basically red-taped for 6 months before someone finally told me nothing could be done, short of me bringing in someone to sue them. I wonder if the UK is better about disability accommodation in general or if I was just incredibly unlucky?
Well, if he were from Syria, he'd be even better off. He'd have a dictator and a bunch of terrorists recreate the worst day of his life every day for him. Also, his privacy would be protected, he'd never have to fear getting on the BBC website with his name and a picture.
This story is woefully incomplete. Where is the kid flying to? Boston, I imagine. Who takes him through Customs and Immigration there?
Since he flies out of LHR 4 times a year, one can only presume that he flies back also. What happens in the return flight? Who helps him at the departure airpost (BOS?)? Who helps him in Immigration at LHR, which is a nightmare even for non-autistic travelers?
I apologize for sounding outraged; I wasn't outraged at the actual events, but the story telling. It's as if someone leaves out critical parts of a story, and you're so engrossed in it that you think: wait a minute, how did that happen? I want to know more, dammit! :-)
While this level of human kindness and consideration is amazing, I am curious what would happen if there were hundreds of people they would have to do this for or if the cost was in the millions of dollars?
I mean there is no other alternative?
Will virtual simulations one day help calm and treat people with these disorders?
It is, and I could even understand it, but then why do you go and ratify the UN convention for the rights of people with disabilities and the optional protocol on top of it? Including Article 18 on Liberty of movement and nationality. It is very pretentious. Why preach on inclusion? It is like saying whites were discriminating against blacks not because of racism but because of the additional cost for extra "colored" toilets! Also I have contributed like 100k in taxes in around 2 years and I am an asperger's myself. Sorry for the rant, I am frustrated...
The cynicism and essentially self centered criticism of this story is nothing short of stunning and deeply depressing. If this place were the commentards section for a US right wing radio station or the UK Daily Wail, then OK. Be here? The community that threw a thoroughly reasonable collective fit when a depressed IT hero commits suicide? All those decent human threads about depression and other mental illnesses? All that concern for Chinese and child workers making Apple and other products? And then I read this crap when a massive busy international airport does a really decent thing?
Ok, now i finally understand why our governments treat us like filth. If we cant applaud this sort of thing, we have zero right to refer to our selves as "humanity", we are just selfish nasty scum.
I don't care what this costs. I don't care if the evil communist BBC didn't write a book, but instead wrote a quick article. I don't care if it inconveniences some arsehole arrogant businessman. I see no relation to between this and our stupid racist security arrangements.
What I care about and respect is a simple act of human decency. This is one such act, and I applaud it.
If is that is too much for some "people", kill my karma, I dont give a fk.
Heathrow airport sucks for everyone, not just `businessman`.
This is not 'decent thing' but PR stunt. Similar way when cat on tree is rescued by three fire cars and police squad.
Just try to travel with someone who has serious mental condition and does not have 'connections'. Nothing makes flight smoother than saying 'I will kill you' to an officer.
Because UK airport security is usually very inflexible in such unusual cases (they provide great service for 'classic' disabilities such as wheelchair).
Also the fact they travel from Heathrow (most overcrowded and busiest airport in Europe) and not from Gatwick, Stansted or other friendlier airport.
A PR stunt that's been going on for 5 years and this is the first mention of it? Heathrow is generally a pretty miserable flying experience but you'd think that they'd be able to get it in the press a little sooner if it was just PR.
> Heathrow is generally a pretty miserable flying experience
Am I the only one who (so far!) hasn't had any issues with Heathrow? Every single time I've been it's gone smoothly and on time. Last time I went through there wasn't even a queue at passport control(!)
I just thought it better to speak up because otherwise there's a bias with only people who have complaints commenting :)
Good on them for doing this for this kid though. Definitely not just a PR stunt if it's been going on for 5 years...
Let me guess: usually travels alone with just cabin luggage. No children or friend who needs assistance. Most 'dangerous item' is laptop. Always has a return ticket. Never visited Belarus, Iraq or other 'dangerous' country. Does not work with chemicals or other 'dangerous' items which leaves traces.
Edit: Actually, I've decided I'd rather not share random details about myself with someone I don't know on the internet, but needless to say about 50% of your assumptions are incorrect.
And even if they weren't, I'm not arguing with nor excusing anyone else's experiences, just providing a counterpoint that not all experiences with Heathrow have been bad.
I agree. Some people may say I am a little "left-wing", though these things have different specific meanings around the globe (and I'm not in US). But I am afraid of one trace commonly seen in left-wing people: the monopoly of goodness.
If you are a good, kind person, with respect for humans, then you are left-wing. And vice-versa. An obvisouly tautological argument, aimed at creating a "us versus them" confrontation that brings no benefit for the political debate.
If you can't imagine that a right-wing person can be kind, generous, good and wholeheartedly support human initiatives like this, then you have no idea what you are talking about when you talk about "right-wing", you are justing creating the enemy you want.
To be honest, I would hope that everybody - left or right-wing - has the same aims i.e. to increase happiness and prosperity in the world. It's just the recommended methods that differ.
Get over it. All this effort so some rich kid can go to a private school overseas?
What about the 99% of kids with autism who's parents can't afford to send their kids overseas four times a year to a rich kids school.
Their kids get stuck in a shitty British school. Even worse it might not even be private!
Seems to me this school is in the 'not really proven' category, which would make me extra cautious it's not just a scam given the normal scams run against parents of autistic kids.
But all that's irrelevant, the parents can spend their money as the wish and assuming Heathrow is not tax payer funded they also may do as they wish.
But saying 'Ok, now i finally understand why our governments treat us like filth.' because people here on HN see through fluff stories is a bit much really.
This might be the most heartwarming story I've ever heard. I think even if I'd stopped working at the airport, I'd show up to do my job for 4 days a year.
77 comments
[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 126 ms ] threadI'm all for being good to fellow humans, but as Spock said, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
http://www.netjets.com/
You see it all the time on Wikipedia. "If only we banned [topic speaker doesn't care about] we could finally make some progress on [topic speaker does care about]." But it ignores how people really work.
If you yell at people doing something good, they're not going to go do the other good thing you want. They're correctly going to ignore you. If you force the issue, they'll leave. Or if they can't, they'll turn into perfunctory drones.
It's not like BA's spending some large amount of money on this. I see no additional expense at all. The people doing it are doing it out of love and compassion. There's no reason to think that this will prevent them from being loving and compassionate to others. If anything, it may help other travelers, in that these people are a) developing their capacity to care about their customers as people, and b) doing something that provides much-needed variety in a parade of hurried, anxious, grumpy, entitled customers.
For example, if the store is a Dixon's.. modifying the signage before he walks in as to make him believe it's the HMV?
If the person can fully grasp the differences (and realizes that what they are seeing isn't reality), then I could completely be on board with that.
In some ways, they already are by recreating his previous experiences.
AR could in effect just enhance the carefully crafted reality and help out this person.
Hats off to both the airport staff for being willing and able to make this as seamless as it sounds like it is, and to the parents who realized the importance of making this a priority for their child.
I'm also pretty sure that there aren't many regulations on flight numbers. As long as ATC knows who you are, the government doesn't care what you tell your passengers you are.
And generally there are so many flights airborne in UK airspace that the published flight number isn't the one given to ATC.
For example, EZY26FR currently overhead my location is published in the timetables as EZY602, but that number can be easily misheard, misquoted or subject to namespace collision on the radio so the airlines are encouraged to use alpha-num callsigns instead.
It really annoys me as someone who likes consistency. Why not just publish the actual callsign in the timetable instead of maintaining two systems and cross-referencing between them?
Hats off to the airport staff for being so accommodating, definitely. But I wonder about the parents. They've gone to great lengths to ensure their son is able to travel and their heart is in the right place. But what happens when the airport can no longer facilitate these conditions? The shit storm that will be unleashed will be ferocious since his expectations have been set in stone over time.
I understand that routine is very important to a number of autistic people. But not everything can be controlled. Staff move on, different passengers travel on different days and the weather changes. There are infinite variables.
My particular strategy would be to control the things that can be controlled. Introduce artificial events that you can keep constant. Perhaps a set of clothes designed only for flights. A trip to a fast food outlet on the way to the airport. A particular toy or electronic device (radio?) for the trip. This all sets up an expectation for what is about to happen, hopefully reducing the need for specific events - like the same airport staff being in a particular place, or the same seats on a flight.
And maybe the parents have tried all of this before or know it just won't work with their son. Everybody is different, and not all strategies work with the same people. But I think they're setting themselves up big time if they don't start slowly removing the 'constants' that can't be indefinitely controlled.
I'll agree on the gate thing, though. They really want you to sit around in that god damned shopping mall for as long as possible. Get elite status and sit in the lounge. Much better.
The security "might" be impressive, but often there's no real coordination so I've felt this is largely theater. I was wandering around while looking for the security office and not once was I stopped and asked where I was going.
No one knew where the security office was. One of my travel companions got lost and wound up there and I had to ask 6 different people (I don't know if they were security, but had uniforms and radios) and all of them gave me the "try over there" treatment.
Gate announcements are invariably late so you either make it barely on time or not at all. I know this is something we have to keep an eye on, but tired people tend to fall asleep.
It also doesn't help that it's one of the most confusing airports I've ever been through. Probably only second to Charles De Gaulle. The language used on most sign posts is English, allegedly, but of no dialect I'm familiar with and with no obviousness at a distance.
I don't know if they've changed these things since the last time (it's been a couple of years), but it was really quite terrible.
[1]: http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/transport/air_transpo... [2]: http://www.reducedmobility.eu/20130730347/The-News/airline-l...
I have a friend whose son is mildly autistic, and each new thing in his life has to be introduced in a specific way. For example, a new shirt will be brought into his room for several days for him to look at and touch. Once he's used to that he'll try it on, but he'll almost immediately take it off for the 'right' shirt that day. This can go on for several weeks, before he'll wear it in the house, but he still won't leave the house without putting on the 'right' shirt. He actually has a job, but it took almost six months from when he was hired until he would wear the full uniform for the job, because each piece of the uniform (and of course the job itself) had to be introduced in this fashion.
My friend's son is only considered 'mildly' autistic. I simply can't image going through a major airport the first time with someone like this. Once the pattern is established, yes, it's a challenge to keep it going ... but what about the first time?
1. You explain over a long period of time (weeks/months?) that you'll be travelling and what you'll be doing. The person is able to slowly come to terms with a change in routine before it happens. You set up a "new routine" for that particular day. Curiosity is engaged, and you have a relatively painless experience.
2. All of the above, but you do it really tough, with lots of screaming and distress.
Once a routine is learnt, it's really difficult to break. But you can create new routines for different environments. Preparation is generally key.
There are some people who are stuck in a state where everything is new, they can't make memories. For some it's the opposite, they can't alter what they already know without a whole lot of friction.
On the other hand, the Heathrow staff (many of them of Indian origin themselves) treat every brown international traveler like a probable terrorist.
Heathrow could and should do a lot more to make travel a better experience for the many, rather than (only) for the special one.
My daughter is "on the spectrum" and we try very hard to not create situations that require us to jump through hoops to avoid her autistic meltdowns. If she makes unreasonable requests, we have to say no and steer her away.
For instance, at one point she asked us to remove the tags from her stuffed animal. Then it became a requirement to remove all tags. It's taken a while to cure her if that trigger.
On the other hand, if we ever need to know the name of a particular dinosaur, she has us covered.
How did you communicate the "demise" of the brontosaurus?
- 20 minute bus rides between TERMINALS - Then its time for the queues from hell.
- Also, a landing card is required for transit to Ireland. (But no where else.)
- Time for another queue. Just cause.
- You must take a subway to get anywhere in Terminal 5.
- Making a connection? Be prepared for total confusion on where to go, which terminal your flight is in, and which gate its at.
- Terminal 5 is nice looking, the rest are claustrophobic ghettos.
- Watch the movie Brasil.
I don't want to defend Heathrow but you need a landing card in this case as it is your entry point to the Common Travel Area [1].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Travel_Area
Since he flies out of LHR 4 times a year, one can only presume that he flies back also. What happens in the return flight? Who helps him at the departure airpost (BOS?)? Who helps him in Immigration at LHR, which is a nightmare even for non-autistic travelers?
Why get so outraged?
I mean there is no other alternative?
Will virtual simulations one day help calm and treat people with these disorders?
The cynicism and essentially self centered criticism of this story is nothing short of stunning and deeply depressing. If this place were the commentards section for a US right wing radio station or the UK Daily Wail, then OK. Be here? The community that threw a thoroughly reasonable collective fit when a depressed IT hero commits suicide? All those decent human threads about depression and other mental illnesses? All that concern for Chinese and child workers making Apple and other products? And then I read this crap when a massive busy international airport does a really decent thing?
Ok, now i finally understand why our governments treat us like filth. If we cant applaud this sort of thing, we have zero right to refer to our selves as "humanity", we are just selfish nasty scum.
I don't care what this costs. I don't care if the evil communist BBC didn't write a book, but instead wrote a quick article. I don't care if it inconveniences some arsehole arrogant businessman. I see no relation to between this and our stupid racist security arrangements.
What I care about and respect is a simple act of human decency. This is one such act, and I applaud it.
If is that is too much for some "people", kill my karma, I dont give a fk.
This is not 'decent thing' but PR stunt. Similar way when cat on tree is rescued by three fire cars and police squad.
Just try to travel with someone who has serious mental condition and does not have 'connections'. Nothing makes flight smoother than saying 'I will kill you' to an officer.
Also the fact they travel from Heathrow (most overcrowded and busiest airport in Europe) and not from Gatwick, Stansted or other friendlier airport.
Am I the only one who (so far!) hasn't had any issues with Heathrow? Every single time I've been it's gone smoothly and on time. Last time I went through there wasn't even a queue at passport control(!)
I just thought it better to speak up because otherwise there's a bias with only people who have complaints commenting :)
Good on them for doing this for this kid though. Definitely not just a PR stunt if it's been going on for 5 years...
And even if they weren't, I'm not arguing with nor excusing anyone else's experiences, just providing a counterpoint that not all experiences with Heathrow have been bad.
I think you're just as bigoted as the people you are complaining about.
If you are a good, kind person, with respect for humans, then you are left-wing. And vice-versa. An obvisouly tautological argument, aimed at creating a "us versus them" confrontation that brings no benefit for the political debate.
If you can't imagine that a right-wing person can be kind, generous, good and wholeheartedly support human initiatives like this, then you have no idea what you are talking about when you talk about "right-wing", you are justing creating the enemy you want.
What about the 99% of kids with autism who's parents can't afford to send their kids overseas four times a year to a rich kids school.
Their kids get stuck in a shitty British school. Even worse it might not even be private!
Seems to me this school is in the 'not really proven' category, which would make me extra cautious it's not just a scam given the normal scams run against parents of autistic kids.
But all that's irrelevant, the parents can spend their money as the wish and assuming Heathrow is not tax payer funded they also may do as they wish.
But saying 'Ok, now i finally understand why our governments treat us like filth.' because people here on HN see through fluff stories is a bit much really.