Delta Apologizes for Taking AIDS Sufferer Off His Flight

SACRAMENTO —  Delta Airlines on Wednesday apologized for inconveniencing an AIDS patient who was removed from an Atlanta-to-San Francisco flight earlier in the week, but the company stuck by its policy of requiring passengers who need special medical assistance to travel with a companion.

As a result, the patient, 31-year-old Mark Sigers of San Francisco, remained in Atlanta with his family, angered that he was pulled off the Tuesday morning flight while medication he needed remained in his luggage aboard the aircraft.

Sigers was planning to fly back to San Francisco on another airline today, according to a spokesman.

The incident touched off a strong reaction from a San Francisco-based group that contends the airline’s action violated Sigers’ civil rights. The organization, Mobilization Against AIDS, has threatened a nationwide boycott of Delta unless the airline formally apologizes and honors Sigers’ ticket, allowing him to travel unaccompanied back to San Francisco.

While Sigers’ family is reluctant to accuse Delta of discrimination, the AIDS group, in an effort to persuade Delta to fly the man home, sought help from the office of Gov. George Deukmejian.

The governor’s office referred the matter to state Health Director Dr. Kenneth W. Kizer, who telegrammed Delta President Ron Allen, asking for a full investigation of the incident and for assurance that Sigers was “not being denied passage on your airline just because he has AIDS.”

Dispute Over Facts

Kizer said Wednesday that he has received no reply and he noted that the family and the airline disagree over the facts in the case.

Last Wednesday, Sigers flew without incident from San Francisco to Atlanta for a family get-together, accompanied on the flight by his brother and sister-in-law.

Because of Sigers’ illness, he carried a letter from his physician noting that although his “physical appearance may be alarming” because of a pervasive skin cancer that is a frequent complication of AIDS, he was “fit to tolerate cross-country air travel.” The doctor said that Sigers’ condition posed no risk to other passengers or the crew because AIDS is spread only by sexual contact, the sharing of needles in drug abuse, and blood transfusions.

The physician also wrote that Sigers might require oxygen at high altitude, and his family arranged with the airline to provide two oxygen tanks for the flight to Atlanta.

But Delta and Sigers’ family disagree over whether Sigers in fact needed oxygen or any other special attention on that flight.

Delta policy has long been to require patients with medical problems that require special attention to be accompanied while traveling, said Delta spokesman Bill Berry, who insisted that the airline does not discriminate against AIDS patients. According to a Delta flight attendant, Sigers frequently required oxygen as well as help in eating and in moving to the restroom during the initial flight, Berry said.

“We are embarrassed,” Berry said. “We do apologize because he was inconvenienced because of Delta’s rules. . . . If he shows up at the airport with a companion we would be happy to fly them to San Francisco on Delta.”

But Sigers’ family contends he needed no special help on the flight to Atlanta and would have needed none on the return flight.

“We are working with an attorney in San Francisco who now is in the process of arranging a flight back,” Sigers’ brother Mike said. “It was a humiliating experience. . . . I just hope somone is brought to account for this.”