Narrative:

I was aft purser for this overseas flight and when boarding the aircraft I saw 2 oxygen tanks in the overhead and 2 more tanks on the opposite side. Spoke to the purser about this because there had been no information for passenger on oxygen on our briefing sheet. Later a passenger service representative boarded; letting us know that; indeed; we would have a passenger on oxygen. Fortunately; the agent had seen the passenger in the boarding area and saw that the passenger would not be using a nasal cannula but a trachea cannula instead. Everything on the aircraft had been incorrectly set up for a nasal cannula. The agent redid the hoses and explained how to change the tanks. The passenger was with his family and a paramedic in the boarding area but the paramedic was not allowed to board per a tsa officer even though the captain had allowed it. So; five minutes before departure the passenger is hastily boarded; along with his wife and 2 daughters who are traveling with him. I am given no additional/further medical information and am trying to communicate with people who speak limited english. One of the daughters questions me if the flight goes all the way to vietnam. I tell her the flight number does but that everyone needs to deplane in vhhh. She becomes worried and says her father needs to stay on the oxygen and that they had been told that they wouldn't have to deplane. She makes a quick phone call and I speak to the doctor. She is concerned about the vhhh stop because they had not been told about this. I assured them that they would have oxygen in vhhh and that everything was already taken care of because the computer booking would have alerted someone that this wasn't a nonstop flight. The doors were already closed at this time so I told the daughter that we would follow through and confirm with vhhh later on during the flight. I spoke with the purser about this and we both felt it was important to follow up with vhhh because everything else related to our passenger had been very unorganized and mismanaged. Luckily; we had a flight attendant that spoke vietnamese. I asked her to speak to the family after takeoff and reassure them that the oxygen would have already been prearranged in vhhh. Later; when the vietnamese literate flight attendant was on her break; our passenger needed to use the bathroom. I tried to communicate with the family to see how long he could be without oxygen and I couldn't really get a straight answer because of the language barrier. I erred on the side of caution and we strapped a portable oxygen bottle around the daughter who was assisting her father to the bathroom. The purser had communicated to the cockpit the need for verification that we would have oxygen for the passenger in vhhh. Eventually; the cockpit received a message that the passenger had been advised in their pnr that there would be no oxygen in vhhh!!!!! And if they need it; it would be $250 usd. The vietnamese speaker spoke to the family and they became a bit upset because here we are getting close to landing and we are making last minute arrangements for oxygen. Upon landing someone comes down the aisle with an aisle wheel chair and no oxygen. I had to forcefully let them know our passenger could not be moved without oxygen. The purser; myself and a few of the economy flight attendants stayed on board for 40 minutes with the passenger and his family while company customer service representatives explained to the family that the price of the oxygen would be around $500 usd!!!!! This was due to the cost of a doctor or nurse needing to be there and there was a minimum charge for a set number of hours. The family became very distressed. The father was on his deathbed and this was his last flight so he could die in vietnam and they had been given wrong information. It was devastating for us to see how poorly this family had been treated by our company. More importantly; it was dangerous that someone didn't follow throughproperly. This family was basically shoved on the airplane without proper medical information ever being gathered and placed in his computer record and communicated to the crew. Subsequently; the paramedic should have been allowed to board. By to let the paramedic board; important medical information was not able to be conveyed to the crew due to the language barrier.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Purser relates her concerns about the services provided a passenger traveling with special medical needs.

Narrative: I was aft Purser for this overseas flight and when boarding the aircraft I saw 2 oxygen tanks in the overhead and 2 more tanks on the opposite side. Spoke to the Purser about this because there had been no information for passenger on oxygen on our briefing sheet. Later a passenger service representative boarded; letting us know that; indeed; we would have a passenger on oxygen. Fortunately; the agent had seen the passenger in the boarding area and saw that the passenger would not be using a nasal cannula but a trachea cannula instead. Everything on the aircraft had been incorrectly set up for a nasal cannula. The agent redid the hoses and explained how to change the tanks. The passenger was with his family and a paramedic in the boarding area but the paramedic was not allowed to board per a TSA officer even though the Captain had allowed it. So; five minutes before departure the passenger is hastily boarded; along with his wife and 2 daughters who are traveling with him. I am given no additional/further medical information and am trying to communicate with people who speak limited English. One of the daughters questions me if the flight goes all the way to Vietnam. I tell her the flight number does but that everyone needs to deplane in VHHH. She becomes worried and says her father needs to stay on the oxygen and that they had been told that they wouldn't have to deplane. She makes a quick phone call and I speak to the Doctor. She is concerned about the VHHH stop because they had NOT been told about this. I assured them that they would have oxygen in VHHH and that everything was already taken care of because the computer booking would have alerted someone that this wasn't a nonstop flight. The doors were already closed at this time so I told the daughter that we would follow through and confirm with VHHH later on during the flight. I spoke with the Purser about this and we both felt it was important to follow up with VHHH because everything else related to our passenger had been very unorganized and mismanaged. Luckily; we had a Flight Attendant that spoke Vietnamese. I asked her to speak to the family after takeoff and reassure them that the oxygen would have already been prearranged in VHHH. Later; when the Vietnamese literate Flight Attendant was on her break; our passenger needed to use the bathroom. I tried to communicate with the family to see how long he could be without oxygen and I couldn't really get a straight answer because of the language barrier. I erred on the side of caution and we strapped a portable oxygen bottle around the daughter who was assisting her father to the bathroom. The Purser had communicated to the cockpit the need for verification that we would have oxygen for the passenger in VHHH. Eventually; the cockpit received a message that the passenger had been advised in their PNR that there would be no oxygen in VHHH!!!!! And if they need it; it would be $250 USD. The Vietnamese speaker spoke to the family and they became a bit upset because here we are getting close to landing and we are making last minute arrangements for oxygen. Upon landing someone comes down the aisle with an aisle wheel chair and no oxygen. I had to forcefully let them know our passenger could not be moved without oxygen. The Purser; myself and a few of the economy flight attendants stayed on board for 40 minutes with the passenger and his family while company customer service representatives explained to the family that the price of the oxygen would be around $500 USD!!!!! This was due to the cost of a Doctor or Nurse needing to be there and there was a minimum charge for a set number of hours. The family became very distressed. The father was on his deathbed and this was his last flight so he could die in Vietnam and they had been given wrong information. It was devastating for us to see how poorly this family had been treated by our Company. More importantly; it was dangerous that someone didn't follow throughproperly. This family was basically shoved on the airplane without proper medical information ever being gathered and placed in his computer record and communicated to the crew. Subsequently; the paramedic should have been allowed to board. By to let the paramedic board; important medical information was not able to be conveyed to the crew due to the language barrier.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.