Woman upset over baggage fee for Sandy donations

Friday, November 30, 2012

Tags:

wake county, troubleshooter, diane wilson

Diane Wilson
More: Bio, E-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Request Diane to speak at your event, News Team

CARY, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Cary woman wanted to help out victims of Hurricane Sandy by bringing a suitcase full of supplies on her trip to New York.

When she called the airline to see if they'd waive the extra bag fee, she was shocked at the answer.

"It was just an immediate, 'No, we won't do it.' And when I tried to escalate it, again it was 'no,'" Kristine Carlson said.

Kristine was headed to Rockaway Beach in Queens to help her friends who lost everything. Kristine had one personal bag and a second suitcase filled with donated supplies for her friends.

"They lost their house, they don't have anything. One friend in particular has a 2 month old. So the formula in particular and the baby supplies will really come in handy," Kristine said.

Her co-workers, a local hospital, and her pediatrician gave her enough goods to fill a bag to take to New York.

On Jetblue the first bag is always free, but Kristine wanted the company to waive the $50 extra bag fee. Kristine said she tried several different avenues to have the fee waived, but the answer was always no.

"It wasn't about the money. It was more about the principle and the fact that I could give that money to my friends or people up there that really needed it," Kristine said.

Kristine got in touch with me, and I reached out to Jetblue. Right away they agreed to allow Kristine to take the second bag with her free of charge. A bag filled with warm blankets, coats, baby formula, and medical supplies -- all to help her friends who lost so much.

A rep for Jetblue asked customers interested in helping to go through established channels for assistance. Jetblue is matching dollar to dollar on donations up to $100,000 to the Red Cross. The rep told me Jetblue has already raised more than $500,000 to help those impacted by Sandy. For more information on Jetblue's relief efforts head to www.jetblue.com/rebuild/.