United Airlines flight attendant Jo Reinhardt worked her last flight Dec. 18, 2002.

It was a Boeing 757, flying from Denver to Seattle, loaded with passengers, even though the airline had filed bankruptcy.

"I can't describe to you how much I loved my job," Reinhardt said. "I always got to work early because I was so excited to be there."

She'd worked at United for 18 years. She was a personable woman who'd once served Joe DiMaggio on a flight.

She married at age 40, got pregnant on her honeymoon and was on her maternity leave when she got the news.

The cheerful flight attendant who had Joe DiMaggio's autograph also had Lou Gehrig's disease. She had a new husband, a new baby and a new diagnosis that promised her only months to live. "They said this will be your first Christmas with Jacob. Plan on it being your last," she said.

Somehow, Reinhardt outlived this diagnosis. At 45, she is now paralyzed from the neck down and requires a respirator to breathe. But when I called her at her home in Indianola, Wash., she was mostly upset about being fired.

She just got the word April 17.

"United never even called to tell me that I was going to be terminated," Reinhardt said. "We found out through the grapevine and had to call them. ... It was as if the supervisor was afraid to tell me.


Sara Nelson, spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, said the union had asked United to extend Rein hardt's medical leave, or make some other accommodation, so her medical benefits could be extended.

The union's contract, forged while United was in bankruptcy, caps medical leave at three years. Nelson said United was considering an exception. But perhaps United fears that making an exception in one case could open a floodgate for others.

"They let her believe they were going to help her up until the point when they told her they would terminate her employment," Nelson said.

Reinhardt's husband, Rodger, said her medical costs were routinely as high as $3,000 a month - not including extras like a recent visit to the intensive-care unit that ran up a $17,000 tab. "Without adequate medical, we would never be able to survive that," he said.

A carpenter, Rodger Reinhardt said he's not sure how he'll afford his wife's COBRA benefits or whether they would cover her expensive medications.

On the day Reinhardt was fired, a House subcommittee heard testimony about executive compensation at companies that had filed bankruptcy. United CEO Glenn Tilton's salary was part of the discussion. Tilton received $23.8 million in compensation in 2006, much of it in unvested stock options and restricted stock, the company reported.

United's unions are livid. While under Chapter 11, United terminated all pensions and stuck the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. with a $5 billion tab in one of the largest pension defaults in history.

United's workers took pay cuts and gave up benefits, and many lost their jobs altogether as management pleaded for their sacrifices to save the airline.

"That's called 'thanks for the give-back, suckers,"' said Evergreen-based airline consultant Michael Boyd.

United's disregard for its employees helped send it into bankruptcy years ago. But I am hoping things can change.

"We have deep sympathy for her situation," United spokeswoman Jean Medina told me. "We hope to work with her and her family to help identify resources for this difficult time."

That would be news to Rodger Reinhardt. It would also be news to the flight attendants union. The union is asking for donations to be sent to: AFA SEA Council 10, Attn: Jo Longway Reinhardt, P.O. Box 54326, Redondo, WA 98054.

If you've ever flown United, consider a small donation, $5 or $10, to show United's managers who is more generous.

"We challenged them for matching donations, but they haven't given a thing," said Nelson.

"I really thought they were going to come through as a shining example of goodwill," Jo Reinhardt said. "When they didn't, they snatched my last bit of hope."

Added her husband: "I guess when you get right down to it, she just didn't die fast enough for United."

Al Lewis' column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Respond to him at denverpostbloghouse.com/lewis, 303-954-1967 or alewis@denverpost.com.