Indulgent Delaplane

Stan Delaplane’s prescription for traveling in luxury (Oct. 19) is totally indulgent. He relates that because he forgot his prescription at home, his emergency Paris doctor wrote him a new prescription and dictated that he use a wheelchair which he did not really need, to get him through lines and customs ahead of the mob.

We recently returned from Paris. On board were four paraplegic tennis players. These young people required assistance getting on and off the airplane and getting back and forth to the restroom. The special airline wheelchair that Delaplane mentions is a heavy folding piece of equipment that must be stored in an overhead compartment during flight. Each time it was used the attendant had to take it down, unfold it, fold it again and stow it overhead. I marveled at the beautiful attitude displayed by the hard-working attendants on that crowded Air France flight. With all the extra time and labor it took to accommodate these special people, the attendants were still courteous and charming to everyone aboard.

I think Delaplane’s maneuver was despicable. To write an article about it makes it doubly so.

HELEN M. HAMMOND

La Jolla