After four long years of legal battles, Karen McGee is finally receiving a $92,500 settlement from Travis County. This outcome follows an incident in 2022 that saw the then 71-year-old traveler spend two nights in jail and sustain a broken arm after a simple gate change turned into a nightmare.
As reported by Dexerto, the incident began in September 2022 when McGee, a Florida resident, arrived in Austin on a Delta Airlines flight from Atlanta. She was reportedly traveling to Seattle but missed her connecting flight due to a gate change. Her situation was complicated by an issue with her hearing aids, which she manages through an app on her phone.
Makenzie Stuard, who works with the University of Texas Law School Civil Rights Clinic, noted, “She controls her hearing aids through an app on her phone. But at the time the event took place, she didn’t know that her hearing aids were actually on a preset setting that didn’t fully cover the sounds that she was missing.”
She was reportedly confused and frustrated
Following the missed connection, Delta rebooked her on an Alaska Airlines flight. McGee, who was already feeling nervous about flying alone for the first time, spotted her cousin waiting at the same airport for an earlier, delayed Alaska Airlines flight.
She asked the gate staff if she could switch to her cousin’s flight, but the request was denied. During this interaction, the staff reportedly mistakenly identified McGee as being drunk. In reality, she was simply confused and frustrated, and because she could not hear well, she was speaking louder than she realized…