A passenger died recently on an American Airlines flight and the cause was placed, at least partially, on the lack of a working oxygen bottle in the cabin. I am not an American pilot and I don't know all the facts of the incident, but not knowing the facts has never stopped me from forming an opinion. Here it is:



The really big issue on the cabin crew walk-around oxygen bottles is why they weren't checked before pushback. On Delta, the interior walk-around was done by and was the responsibility of the flight attendants. This included first aid kits, the electric paddle thingie and crew walk-around oxygen. Empty bottles is a big no-go item. That is where the airline can lose its operating certificate. Medical oxygen is only boarded when the passengers ask for it and pay for it. They usually don't want to pay for it so they complain of shortness of breath in flight to get the oxygen for free. Big mistake on the passengers part this time. She screwed up -- she trusted them to know and do their jobs. Not something you can do in an industry where fares are always low, standards are lower and oil is a hundred bucks a barrel.



In my opinion, this is another case of "you get what you pay for." Everybody wanted really cheap airline tickets and didn't mind destroying what was the best air transportation system in the world through deregulation to do so. You can't pay extremely low prices and then expect a flying ambulance, police station, military base, and luxury airliner all in one. The airlines are already treating their passengers like cattle due to this and now passengers are dying from neglect.