The Brockovich Report

An Open Letter to United Airlines.

It was a dark and stormy night. No, really.

It was hot, muggy, and off-and-on stormy.

It had been that way for days in N.Y.

Last Sunday we had been scheduled to take off at 2:00 p.m. but we were held in LA until 4:30 due to bad weather in N.Y.. When we arrived in N.Y at 1:30, they held us on the runway until 2:30--due to heavy traffic. After all that waiting around, when we left on Wednesday, I was relieved to see there were no posted delays and the weather looked fine. We did not board until about 7:45 because the flight had been held on the runway. Once we boarded, we taxied out.

The pilot got on the speaker and told us that there were 45 planes ahead of us but we should be up in about 1 hour. That hour passed, and the pilot got on and said it would be another hour. That hour passed too; the pilot announced that it would be another hour.

In this time, no food had been served and I was in first class. They brought out nuts and we had some water, and booze was available. By the time we had been on the plane for three hours, the pilot got on and said we were going to move to a holding area, and that it shouldn’t be much longer.

Another hour passed.

By now, the problem was that storms had moved into the area. It was raining and lighting. The pilot said we had to wait for the bad weather to pass and not to worry about the lighting.

Oh, sure.

Another hour passed. Still, we had not taken off. People were grumbling, but no one was outraged. I saw many passengers sleeping. Finally, after 6 hours, the pilot got on and said we had to go back to the gate to get fuel, and we would make some decisions.

Once we were at the gate, people started calling,

I was on the phone looking for a hotel and was informed that although I could get off the plane, I could not get any luggage. Hotels were sold out, rental cars were gone and hundreds were down in baggage claim reading themselves to sleep on the ground.

Catering was closed. The food on the plane could no longer be served as it had sat there with no refrigeration and could not be served. Catering put some snack packs on (gross) but there weren't enough for everyone. They had enough water for everyone to have one bottle and needed more water.

Finally, people got on, we taxied out again only to wait another two hours before we took off. At 3:00 a.m. we were cleared to go.

I was so angry and so trapped. There was nothing I could do but use the phone, have a vodka, listen to music and get more and more frustrated.

The airline offered no compensation of any kind. They apologized again when we landed at LAX at 5:15 a.m. We were to arrive at 10:00 p.m. the following night. So, from the time I got to JFK, sat on the plane and flew the 5 hours home, it had been a total 13 hours. I could have made it to Australia.

That would have been a lot more fun.

I understand safety and would be the first to say I don’t want to take off in bad weather or face a head on collision but come on! Don’t you think after so many hours that someone could figure out that there will be longer delays and go back to the gate for God's sake and let us passengers get off?

At the baggage claim in LA my fellow travelers were too exhausted to be pissed.

I am sure just glad to have gotten there.

I will never fly into JFK again. If United can’t compensate for some type of free miles for all of us, I won’t use that airline again. And I am a 100K flyer with them.

I have flown many airlines. Continental is my favorite and I can tell you this has NEVER happened to me on Continental.

No one wants to fly if it isn’t safe, but United, if your flight isn't going, just taxi us back to the gate and let us out. I didn’t bargain for being held against my will for that long when I choose to fly. Something needs to change.

Anyone who has been affected by Gardasil, feel free to visit this new group and join to speak your peace.

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/gardasilwatch/

Take a look at 6697 reports of issues with the HPVR vaccine, familiarly known as Gardasil. Those are a lot of reports, especially as it is a known fact that not all people follow up with reporting their reactions.

Did you have a reaction from your Gardasil inoculation? If so, l want to know about it.

Now, bear in mind that these reactions include developing hives or a big red spot at the site of the vaccination. In fact, they include pregnancy, headache, dizziness, pain, fainting, shaking, loss of consciousness, pallor, fever, flu, dry eyes--and that is just on the first page. Database reports run the gamut. Ok, to be completely fair, the pregnancy was a "false pregnancy report" apparently caused by the vaccine. Dizziness fainting and pain are not unexpected for anyone with any kind of doctor phobia. (And I'd like to know what is NOT natural about having symptoms of dread about strange people in white coats poking you with sharp needles?)

But to get back to the topic--you can revisit the reports and find 103 events where HPV4 reactions are considered life-threatening. Life threatening reports are a whole other thing. There were some anaphylactic reactions that were life-threatening, and at least 5 deaths--though it isn't always clear from the report what caused some of those deaths.

But let's never mind all that.

Let's go back to the beginning of Gardasil. Let's go back to Dr. Diane Harper. If you aren't familiar with her, Harper is the Dartmouth Medical school doctor who helped develop Gardasil. If anyone is an expert on the vaccine, it is she. What does SHE think of how Gardasil is being marketed as a cancer preventative? She's not a happy camper.

Take at a couple of quotes from this FW Daily News article by CINDY BEVINGTON.
Not only does Harper say that it is silly for states to be mandating Gardasil for younger girls. She says, "Giving it to 11-year-olds is a great big public health experiment." It isn't helpful and it might be harmful.

Furthermore, she says the same thing I have been saying all along.

"There also is not enough evidence gathered on side effects to know that safety is not an issue."

Shouldn't we be considering safety first? But, remember that Dr. Diane Harper is not a Marketing Whiz. She's just one of the scientists who created the vaccine which is effective against 4 of 20 strains of HPV. In her opinion, the vaccine is not for 9 year old girls. (Go on, read the article.)

Harper is also concerned about the adults. She goes on to say, "Also, the public needs to know that with vaccinated women and women who still get Pap smears (which test for abnormal cells that can lead to cancer), some of them will still get cervical cancer."

What? Did I hear that right? Merck has been telling us the vaccine is supposed to make us all "ONE LESS." You know Merck. Merck & Co., Inc. is a global research-driven pharmaceutical company that tells the world it is all about putting patients first. But if that is the case, why is this vaccine aimed at an age group not recommended by one of the vaccine's developers; and why is it acting as if it has found the preventative for cancer?

Maybe we need one less Pharmaceutical company. Or at least one less Marketing Department.