Airline Waives $36K Fee For Shooting Victim's Family

Scott Beigel

A charter airline has waived a $36,000 fee for an emergency flight taken by the family of Scott Beigel, a 35-year-old hero teacher and coach with Dix Hills roots who was killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting earlier this year.

The fee stemmed from the flight Beigel’s family members – mom Linda Beigel Schulman, dad Michael Schulman and uncle Mark Peters – took to Parkland, Florida on Feb. 14 in the wake of the shooting, according to Facebook post made by Beigel Schulman on Monday.

Not knowing her son’s condition, Beigel Schulman said she and her family frantically searched for a commercial flight, but eventually chartered a plane out of Republic Airport in East Farmingdale through Talon Air.

Beigel was shot after he opened his classroom’s door to provide shelter to students hiding from the shooter, according to published reports.

“I had to find out what hospital he was in because I had to be with him,” Beigel Schulman said. “We were out the door within 15 minutes, headed straight to Farmingdale where we signed the necessary forms, handed them a credit card and were on our way.”

Beigel Schulman said she knew the flight was “going to be super expensive” (“it didn’t matter what the cost,” she wrote), and later received an $18,229.57 charge for the one-way trip. However, she added, they were also “charged another $18,229.56 to bring the plane back to Farmingdale because they did not have anyone wanting to charter the plane back from Ft. Lauderdale.”

Talon originally offered to reduce the total charge by $2,000, but after Beigel Schulman’s post the company’s founder, Adam Katz, wrote to the mother to give condolences and also offer an $18,000 refund for the money she already paid and $18,000 donation to the Scott J. Beigel Memorial Fund, which the family established to provide scholarships to send children to camp.

“No parent should have to go through what you and so many other parents have endured,” Katz wrote. “My heart goes out to each and every one who has suffered so much pain, anguish and loss by virtue of this senseless act of violence.”

Beigel Schulman in a Facebook post made Tuesday thanked Katz for the offer, which she accepted, and added that she returned $2,000 back to Talon as “it is in no way my wish to have Talon Air, Inc. reimburse us for more than we originally paid.”

–ANDREW WROBLEWSKI