My girlfriend and I flew out of this airport heading back to New York last May. The entire experience left such a bad taste in our mouth that we were glad to be leaving the state of Arizona.

We were extremely rudely treated by security after I lost my boarding pass somewhere between the baggage check-in and the security check. While I went to get another pass, my girlfriend was threatened with a strip search for swearing.

If this woman's experience was anything like ours, I wouldn't blame her for being irate. The security in Phoenix is on some sort of bizarre power-trip. In the same half hour I watched them belittle a young couple with an infant for having carry-on luggage with baby lotion etc. that exceeded the amount of liquid permitted in carry-on.

I've seen several posts in here that allude to the opinion that New Yorker's are rude and this woman deserved her treatment.

After living in the tri-state area for close to 10 years I have come to the conclusion that we are used to good service and proper treatment, and let others know if we feel that we aren't receiving it. As busy as we are paying rent, we don't have time to beat around the bush, so we'll tell you straight up if we think your FUBAR.

From my own experience at the Arizona Airport,I would say FUBAR they are.

Why wasn't ANYONE from this so called prominent family with Carol Anne??

Is a cell phone that self-serving for Noah's conscience? Are we really grieving for him?

Did her family really grieve her situation?

Why does the public want to go after the Airport?

Sue sad America - wake up to your callus ways...we are simply devouring one another and calling it Capitolism. Truly grieving for us all.

There was a man killed by a sky marshall reportedly as his wife yelled out he was mentally ill and is off his meds. Ms Gotbaum was in a medically unstable state of mind and overreacted to a missed flight.

I would like to know why agitated people at airports are treated as criminal and killed as opposed to mentally fragile in need of someone equipt to handle such a traveler.

A a nurse in an ER I was often required to care for patients who were drunk or drugged and agitated and out of control. I am not able to give sedatives because the patient is already chemically saturated. I do not get a taser. I do not get a gun. I am 5 feet even 100 pounds. None of these patients of mine we left alone. Our room for these patients was see through room and observed continuously.

If the airports take on the roll of medcial professionals as when they tried to revive Mrs. Gotbaum: they would have used the "heart shocker" several times. Medication would be given to balance the acid base balance of the body to help the defibrillation work.

In short a tragic death, a poor attempt to recucitate, uneducated staff,. Having symptoms of mental instability cannot be unusual at airports but the outcome of death is unacceptable. We could do better.

My heart goes goes out to the Gotbaum family for such a preventable loss.Could we all try harder to improve this unexcepatable sitation.

95 so true

It's truly sad that no one was able to mind-read her needs and help her in Phoenix, but she shouldn't have been traveling alone in her condition. No way. Husband calling after the fact was too little, too late. They could have made arrangements for an airline escort or made notations on her ticket reservation, coulda, woulda, shoulda. So sad.

I am very sorry for the family's loss and to hear of the death of someone who was seeking treatment for her alcoholism. I am bothered by one thought, however-why was she allowed to travel alone if her family in New York knew that her condition was delicate, and to quote her husband, that she was "very fragile" ?

Why was sent alone on a plane across the country. Could she not have had an intervnetionist accompany her, or at the very least, a nurse? Should she not have received detox first in a treatment facility nearby? It is obvious from the videos that she was not fit to travel alone. This is most disturbing.

Unless there is someone that can verify the actual events that took place can any of us honestly prejudge anyone at this point.I wasn't there to witness the event and as tragic as it appears to be, the public only knows what the news media and law enforcement authorities are willing to divulge. It will be interesting to watch and see what comes of this. It's sad what the ramifications of 9/11 have caused. Hence, our airports are inundated with so much security and not to mention that here lately it's been reported that airport security is now watching the expressions on the faces of those entering to catch a flight.

Wow. Not one of you friggin' people were there and yet you all feel comfortable commenting on someone's death.

the cops in Az haven't started ramming broomsticks up people's butts yet, like they do in NYC so maybe there's still hope for them.

Police brutality at airports is out of control. Especially when the police beat up/kill young women and mothers. This is similar to the police beating of the young woman at Reagan National Airport in DC except she suffered brain damage and is still alive. My thoughts and prayers go out to Carol Ann Gotbaum's family. http://youtube.com/watch?v=XPNmxZwhMag

If you're handcuffed behind your back, how can you possibly move the cuffs towards your neck in front enough to strangle yourself? I've been trying to do that all night....and my arms don't bend that way...that's in that statement.

"People don't flip out at airports in the face of some gatekeeper who is obviously well trained."

Yes, they do, all the time.

"No provision at PIA for someone who flips out?"

The provisions were to ask her to calm down, and when she didn't, call security. Life is not a daycare facility, and people who expect planes to sit around and wait for them should reserve a charter flight. People who expect kid gloves when traveling should bring a handler or assistant to deal with the working people who are just doing their jobs.

we don't kill people because someone doesn't think the person is an angel.

They seem able to tranquilize bears. The whole analysis of this obscenitie is skewed to miss the point. So what if they followed "policies". The woman is dead. In custody. She was flipped out and so it's her fault? People don't flip out at airports in the face of some gatekeeper who is obviously well trained. Cannot we teach people to think without imposing liability upon their masters. Where was the plalne at the gate or gone. Is this the case of an employee getting their rocks off by imposing a rule which could have been easily accommodated? If so, that gate keeper killed a passsenger. No provision at PIA for someone who flips out? Comeone, Boycott the airline and PIA1 Just too much bother for a human life.

Further, I'm sick of these sign in boxes -- how many names/words am I to remember? Now they're blocking autofills! And this is the only link I could find in all the articles on this absolute abomination to post my comment.

You are correct in all of your assertions, but disorderly conduct IS a misdemeanor crime, and so is resisting arrest.

Although there are many others who could have acted differently from the way they did here, a word about USAir. I too received horrendous service from them two days after this incident, despite acting as patiently and politely as possible in the face of rude treatment. This was at Reagan-National Airport in DC while taking the DC-NY shuttle, not in Phoenix.

As Ms. Gotbaum's family investigates the lawsuit that they are no doubt contemplating, they should definitely examine the actions of the gate agent(s) who turned Ms. Gotbaum away from the flight. Being late for a flight is not a crime. Being upset about not being permitted to board is not a crime. Being intoxicated is not a crime. Having mental health and family issues is not a crime. Traveling to rehab to try to resolve those issues in an adult manner is not a crime. If USAir had handled the situation more professionally, Ms. Gotbaum may never have become so upset or created such a disturbance in the first place. My hunch is that USAir's management creates poor incentives for its employees to act appropriately in these sorts of situations. They may end up "hanged" in the press - and socked with a big legal judgment - as a result. We'll see if it has any effect whatsoever on their business plan.

One last question: if you had a guest in your home who was acting like this woman, would you ask her to leave or would you "restrain" her and lock her in a closet?

You don't actually think that a private home and an airport are the same thing, do you? You don't think that a private homeowner and security professionals are the same, right? I mean, I'm one of the people who thinks that the police probably mishandled the situation, and even I think your analogy is nuts. Closets are not the same as holding cells. If they had locked her in an airport closet, maybe you'd have something. This woman was evidently exhibiting disorderly conduct, something which can result in a legal arrest.

If someone were misbehaving in my home and they refused to leave, I would call the police. And they would arrest that person and put him/her in a holding cell. Because I would have every right to call the police, and they would have the authority to restrain someone. So, yeah, guess what, I guess I would put that person in a closet. With help.

Also, #17, your wife sounds crazy. I hope she is getting herself some help. If not, I think you should force her to do so. She must be a horror to live with.

I have flown from the Phoenix airport and in my opinion, the subjective and arbitrary TSA employees probably sent this poor woman over the edge.

After having to throw away a $5 tube of toothpaste and been yelled at, I walked away from security check with two employees yelling at each other

like they lived their whole lives in a barn and without getting a shred of socialization. In fact, my experience tells me that things are so bad and so different from airport to airport, I choose not to fly if at all possible.

I have been to Mexico City with federales holding machine guns and the employees there were far more competent and polite than the Phoenix airport.

That poor woman was traveling by herself and clearly in need of treatment. While, the airport employees are great at waving threats of arrest by Homeland Security, they lack the sophistication and education to understand situations that do not appear in their employee handbook.

The airline industry as a whole is clearly not working and should be regulated by the federal government.

Guest 81:

I can personaly verify that the US Airway and Pheonix police (and perhaps Phoenix morality) are 100% at fault for this woman's death through their unjust and corrupt behavioir.

I was at the pheonix airport, and this situation describes what happened to me one week before, except that i had the help of a mysterious stranger and my husband. I am also a woman from new york, and became extremely upset by the callous treatment I received at the hands of the US Airway people. I can personaly verify that the US Airway and Pheonix police (and perhaps Phoenix morality) are 100% at fault for this woman's death through their unjust and corrupt behavioir.

When they closed the door just as we arrived at the gate, we asked them to open the door and they refused, walking off snickering. We were enraged: Jet Blue always calls people on the intercom, plus it was US Airway's fault that we were late to the gate. This was the last straw in a long line of mistreatment from the airline, and so we decided if they wouldn't give us service, we would demand it. Once I stopped acting like a docile, obedient piece of chattel they grew surly and made a big show of calling the police.

When security came, the female officer told me that she would never fly US Airways herself, because people always complained about their lack of service. Then she told me they had refused to fly me (this was totally out of line with any of our actions). Moreover, we were going to have to pay hundreds of dollars to book new flights out of Phoenix. We told them we didn't have any money.

I became upset again, and once again demanded proper service. This time they told me if I continued to protest they would arrest me. This was the worst service I had ever seen: and a clear case of injustice. I told them quite firmly they were not going to arrest me. This is when the mysterious stranger stepped in and spoke to a woman behind the counter, I suppose. She came over and told us that the airline had agreed to put us on another flight (what they should have done in the first place!) and that I was lucky.

I guess I was.

Rumor has it she was on her way to alcohol rehab in Tucson. There definitely could have been some medical issues related to withdrawal. The heart speeds up to offset the depressive effects of alcohol, and without alcohol or medical intervention, it races unchecked. What a sad story.