When Louis Zaharias went to the United Airlines baggage claim office to get some assistance for items the airline had lost, the last thing he suspected was the complete disrespect and humiliation that would befall him with employees standing by laughing at his peril.
His name might sound familiar, as he is the father of the Zaharias children, a brother and sister who were kidnapped in 1987, who he has been searching for ever since. He was returning home to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California after visiting his sick, aging aunt across the country, when he found that he was missing some of his possessions that were sentimental gifts from his aunt.
As anybody would, he went to the airline to get help to return his missing items. To start, he was facing hostile employees who were not complying with his simple request, giving him the full runaround making it as difficult as possible.
That’s when he smashed his head against a nearly invisible plexiglass shelf, which knocked him to the ground giving him a traumatic brain injury, a concussion, and severe injuries to other parts of his body like his shoulder, knee, and worst of all, his spine, according to Nehora Law.
Most would expect somebody in this predicament to be treated with compassion and respect. Unfortunately, all he faced was typical neglect associated with the employees of the company. As he struggled on the ground unable to stand or even think straight after the crushing blow, he was offered no help as the employees watched him suffer.
To add even more insult to his situation, due to the severity of the injuries and his exertion attempting to get help, he ended vomiting and losing control of his bladder. In a sadistic reaction, the United Airlines workers laughed at the person in need of help rather than do the right thing.
Thankfully, some good samaritan eventually contacted the authorities, where he was able to get aid from police and medical workers. The officers chastised the employees for their crude handling of the situation.
Tragic Past
This story rings especially painful knowing that man’s history with a three decade long search for his missing children and the pain that has caused. He is the last person who should ever be facing such utter disregard from a company in that situation.
After a messy divorce with his wife Susan, Louis Zaharias found out that she had forcibly taken the kids, knocking his mother down a flight of stairs in the process, and then leaving California with them. It has been 34 years, and there has been no major movement on finding Christpher and Lisa, who were 3 years old and 15 months old at the time of the kidnapping.
At this point, the children are fully grown adults, and likely aren’t even aware that they are the missing children in the situation. If Susan had raised them under different names and made false claims about their father, they would have no reason to even think that they would be a part of a situation like this.
While there were sightings of Susan and the Zaharias children in cities across the country, these spotting never led to anything in terms of getting the kids back to their father, and the trail has been cold for a while now.
A pattern of issues
This is not the first time that United Airlines abuse has been an issue in the news. Aside from the everyday headaches the company causes people, the viral video of David Dao being forcibly removed from a plane in 2017 is often associated with the airline.
The paying customer was assaulted in an attempt to get him out of his seat after the airline made the mistake of overbooking the flight, which they passed their problem on to passengers. Security officers roughed Dao up, dragging him off the flight, leaving him with a concussion, a broken nose, and 2 missing teeth to deal with. It was so traumatic it took nearly two years for Dao to muster up the courage to watch the disturbing video.
All of this makes United Airlines’ disgusting treatment of Louis Zaharias less surprising, as there has been a history of disrespect shown to passengers on the airline. Maybe this will be a wake up call for the airline, but with previous incidents leading to no change, it is unlikely to make any major waves.
