2012, Jeeja Ghosh

Differently-abled woman offloaded from SpiceJet flight


20-FEB-2012


KOLKATA : A woman suffering from cerebral palsy was offloaded from a SpiceJet flight at the Kolkata airport on Sunday as the pilot reportedly found her unfit to fly on her own. An airline source said the pilot mistook the passenger for a mentally challenged patient.


The incident occurred soon after Jeeja Ghosh, 42, a teacher at Kolkata’s Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy, boarded the flight. Ghosh was on her way to Goa to attend a conference where she was to deliver a lecture on mainstreaming the differently-abled.


Ghosh said she reached the airport at 7 am, checked in and was escorted to the flight by an assistant. She was seated in the plane when a flight assistant reportedly asked for her boarding pass and then told her to leave her seat and accompany them. Ghosh was made to deboard the flight, put in a car and taken back to the airport.


According to Ghosh, she was taken to the airport office, where she learnt that it was the pilot, Utprabh Tiwari, who wanted her offloaded. The assistant manager and other personnel reportedly said they were helpless and had failed to convince the pilot.


Ghosh said the airline staff refused to give her a written statement stating the reason for de-boarding her. “It is painful to see the attitude of the airport personnel. Perhaps they thought that I am mad, and that is why they did not allow me to board the flight,” she said.


While the airline later apologised and offered to fly her to Goa the next day, Ghosh has filed a complaint with the authorities.


In a statement, SpiceJet regretted the incident and said it has apologised for the inconvenience caused to the passenger. “We are investigating the matter internally and action will be taken,” the airline said.


As per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s guidelines, airlines cannot refuse to carry a differently-abled passenger. In fact, they have been advised not to insist on medical clearance or special forms unless they have information that the passenger either suffers from some contagious disease or would require attention during flight to maintain their health.


http://www.indianexpress.com/news/differentlyabled-woman-offloaded-from-spicejet-flight/914229/0

2011, Rajiv Rajan

Rajiv Rajan denied ambulift facility at airport


23 Aug 2011


CHENNAI : He helped frame the Civil Aviation Requirement guidelines for the differently-abled. And he himself became a victim of the failure of the Airports Authority of India and Air India in following them.


It was irony at its best when Rajiv Rajan, coordinator of Disability Legislation Unit, South, and general secretary of disabled people’s organisation, and four of his colleagues were denied an aerobridge or ambulift facility at the airport here.Rajan and others were returning from Delhi by flight (number AI 540), after attending a workshop of Disabled People’s International Asia Pacific Chapter. “We had asked for wheelchairs and seats in the front row, right after the business class. 


It is their duty to provide the ambulifts as they had prior knowledge that we were on board the flight,” Rajan told Express.“It is a sheer violation of Carriage by Air of Persons with Disability or Persons with Reduced Disability Rule framed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in 2008 and which came into effect in 2009,” said A Dhanasekar, president of EKTHA and associate coordinator of Disabled Legislation Unit.As per rule 6.3 of the guidelines, every airport operator shall make provisions, including ambulifts, to enable disabled passengers to embark or disembark the aircraft without hassles.


“The airport authorities and airline said they will carry us. We climbed down in protest, except for a woman. Air India provided best services till now, but this event resulted in some bitterness,” Rajiv said.


Interestingly, the incident was repeated on Tuesday when Minakshi Balasubramanian and S S Smitha, members of the Disability Rights Alliance, Tamil Nadu, and colleagues of Rajiv, returning from New Delhi by flight number AI 429. “We were threatened to be evacuated. But then, after we protested for more than an hour, the authorities yielded and provided us with ambulift,” said Minakshi.


Meanwhile, an airline spokesman said the Air India was looking into the issue.

http://expressbuzz.com/topic/rajiv-rajan-denied-ambulift-facility-at-airport/306698.html

2011, Smitha & Meenakshi

Disabled get ambulift after hour's fight


Shalini Umachandran, TNN Aug 23, 2011, 01.03pm IST


CHENNAI : Two disabled women who travelled from Delhi to Chennai spent more than an hour arguing with airline staff on Monday when they were refused an ambulift to leave the plane.


Smitha Sadasivan, a wheelchair user with multiple sclerosis, and B Meenakshi, who uses crutches, landed in Chennai from Delhi on Air India flight IC 429 at 1.15pm on Monday. The airline staff said the ambulift — used to raise and lower passengers with limited mobility from an aircraft — was under maintenance and so they would have to carry the women down from the plane.


"The Air India staff and crew said four men would carry the wheelchairs down," said Meenakshi, who is also a member of the Disability Rights Alliance. "The civil aviation rules clearly state that ambulifts should be provided to passengers who need them. Apart from the fact that carrying us violates our dignity, it is also extremely unsafe," she said.


When the women refused to budge for over an hour, the airline staff gave in. "Within 15 minutes the ambulift was at the aircraft," said Sadasivan. "If the situation had been so bad, how did they manage to get the ambulift within 15 minutes? Why did we have to fight for it for an hour," she says.


Air India officials declined to comment immediately. Airport authorities, however, said the airline had two ambulifts, one of which was not working. The Airports Authority of India also maintains an ambulift, which it hires out to airlines for Rs 3,000 per use. An ambulift works on a mechanism similar to the one used to lift catering vans to the aircraft.


"The crew called managers who told us to adjust. They felt we were being adamant, but we explained that we are not comfortable being carried. A Supreme Court order also makes it mandatory to provide the ambulift," said Sadasivan. Both had mentioned that they were disabled and wheelchair users when they booked their tickets the previous day.


Most private airlines do not provide these facilities despite the Persons with Disabilites Act, 1995, stating that disabled people should have equal accessibility to all transport facilities. The directorate general of civil aviation has made ambulifts mandatory at airports. "The women knew their rights so they stood their ground, but rights of ordinary disabled people are violated regularly," said Javed Abidi, convenor of Delhi's Disabled Rights Group, who filed a public interest litigation to make provision of ambulifts mandatory in 1997.


Monday's incident is not an isolated one. On Sunday night, T M N Deepak, who uses crutches, travelled to Chennai on a private airline. He was told he would have to be carried from the aircraft as they did not provide ambulift facilities. "I did not want to be carried as it is undignified and unsafe. I decided to walk but airline stairs are not easy to navigate on crutches," he said.


http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-08-23/chennai/29918605_1_private-airlines-airline-staff-disabled-women

2011, Keshavji Shah

Jet Airways leaves senior citizen at Mumbai airport boarding gate


A senior citizen booked on a Jet Airways (JA) Mumbai-Bhuj flight was quick to retaliate after he allegedly missed his flight because of the airline’s negligence.


The passenger, who was wheelchair-bound, alleged that the airline staff abandoned him near the boarding gate and later refused to rebook him on another flight or give him a refund.


It was only after he lodged a non-cognisable (NC) offence with the airport police that the airline offered him a refund. The airline, however, maintained that the passenger was missing from the wheelchair when the boarding started and it was not their fault.


On August 11, Kandivli resident Keshavji A Shah, 80, was to fly by Jet Airways (JA) flight 9W 2533 from the Santa Cruz terminal of Mumbai airport.The flight was to leave at 1.10pm and the passenger, accompanied by his son Rupesh Shah, 39, reached the airport at 10.45am.


“My father is old and ailing so we had requested the airline for a wheelchair,” said Rupesh who had come to see him off.


The airline’s staff took Keshavji inside in a wheelchair, completed all the formalities and took him to the boarding gate. “After that, the loader left my father there and disappeared.I had told my father to give me a call once he boarded the flight.I was waiting outside when at 1.15pm he called me and said that he was still sitting inside the terminal and that his flight has left,” he said.


Rupesh informed the airline staff and Keshavji was brought outside the terminal.“We requested the airline to book him on the next flight to Bhuj but they refused. We asked for a refund and they denied it,” he says.


Angry with such treatment the Shahs lodged an NC under section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of the Indian penal code at Santa Cruz airport police station.“After we lodged the police complaint, the airline agreed to offer us a refund. If they are going to treat senior citizens like this, what is the point of even informing them?” asked Rupesh.


http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_jet-airways-leaves-senior-citizen-at-mumbai-airport-boarding-gate_1575043

2011, Mohammed Asif Iqbal

Sign bond to fly, blind exec told


9 Jun 2011


KOLKATA : A high-flying city executive, who has travelled across the world and helped frame disabled-friendly guidelines for Indian airports, hit an air pocket at Patna last week when a private airline insisted he sign a bond before allowing him to board. The apparent reason: he is visually impaired, and was travelling alone.


Md Asif Iqbal, 34, did eventually board the Ranchi-bound Kingfisher Red flight, but only after signing an indemnity bond that cleared the carrier and its employees of any charge should something happen to him during the flight. Iqbal has no ailments. He lost his eyesight at 16 due to a genetic disorder.


But that has never been a hurdle for Iqbal, who did his BCom from St. Xavier's and MBA from Symbiosis. He has been working as principal consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers since May 2005 and is now engaged in the ambitious Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) project led by former Infosys chief executive Nandan Nilekani. He was in Patna to interview students on behalf of an NGO that will sponsor their two-year stay in the city and coach them for the engineering entrance examination.


Iqbal has lodged a complaint with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), alleging discrimination and harassment. The airline brass has been summoned for an explanation. Iqbal, ironically, had participated in the consultations initiated by the DGCA to make airports disabled-friendly.


DGCA is probing an identical complaint against the airline. Shabnam Mansoori, who is also visually impaired, was not allowed to board a Kingfisher Mumbai-Ahmedabad flight on May 10. Mansoori's two kids were travelling with her.


A Kingfisher Airlines spokesperson told TOI in an email on Wednesday the company regretted the incident and had taken punitive action.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-06-09/kolkata/29638416_1_disabled-friendly-sign-bond-air-pocket

Airline suspends service agent

Patna, June 14: Kingfisher Airlines today asked Supriya Sagar, a guest service agent at the city airport, to not report to work till further notice in connection with a case of alleged misbehaviour with a visually challenged passenger.

Sagar is the third employee of the airlines to be suspended in this case. On June 9, two other employees of the airlines, Shuddho Ghosh, the airport manager of Kingfisher at Patna, and supervisor Shamim Ahmed were also suspended.

Sources said on May 30, when Mohammad Asif Iqbal, a visually challenged passenger, boarded the Kingfisher Patna-Ranchi-Mumbai flight IT 3571, the ground staff “harassed” him. The flight was scheduled to depart from Patna for Ranchi at 2:05pm.

Iqbal later filed a passenger harassment complaint with the directorate-general of civil aviation (DGCA). According to the complaint, he was initially denied a boarding pass at the counter at Patna airport as he is visually challenged. After the initial denial, the ground staff of Kingfisher demanded that he sign an indemnity bond stating that he was travelling at his own risk. Only then was he allowed to board the aircraft.

“Initially, I was not given the boarding pass at the Kingfisher counter at Patna airport. I was made to wait while other passengers got their boarding passes cleared. After repeated requests and signing an indemnity bond, which is against DGCA rules, I was finally given the boarding pass and the permission to board the aircraft. Shamim Ahmed, who was the station in-charge at that time, misbehaved with me,” Iqbal told The Telegraph.

Airline sources said Ghosh was not on duty that day. Sources in civil aviation industry claimed that the regulations with respect to boarding of completely visually challenged passengers in Kingfisher aircraft were not very clear. Immediately after the incident, the airlines issued fresh guidelines regarding the boarding of visually impaired passengers, around 5pm on May 30.

Responding to the suspension of the airline employees, Iqbal said, “Some of them misbehaved with me and I endured the unnecessary hassle of signing an indemnity bond. That is the reason I made the complaint. However, I did not want either Ghosh or Supriya to lose their jobs. I am aware of the fact that Ghosh was not on duty that day. But whatever action has been taken against him is an internal matter of the airlines. Moreover, Supriya is a wonderful, kind-hearted and affectionate girl. I believe that it is only because of her that I got the opportunity to board the aircraft that day.”

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110615/jsp/bihar/story_14113669.jsp

2011, Shabnam Mansuri

Kingfisher crew offloads blind woman with kids

Airline makes them disembark from flight, leaves them unattended for nearly an hour and a half as aircraft takes off without them

21-5-2011

MUMBAI : A private airline made a blind woman and her two children disembark from her connecting flight to Goa and left them unattended for nearly an hour and a half while the plane took off without them.

Adding insult to injury, the airline's staff allegedly told the woman that she could not travel with two kids because she was blind.

Shabnam Mansuri had flown in to Mumbai from Ahmedabad with sons Lukman (7) and 18-month-old Luftaan, and was on her way to Goa when the incident happened

Shabnam Mansuri (35) says the experience has made her realise the fallacy of thinking that she can be treated like everyone else despite her handicap.

On May 10, Mansuri was travelling with her sons Lukman (7) and 18-month-old Luftaan from Ahmedabad to Goa via Mumbai to meet her husband. Her tickets had been booked with Kingfisher Airlines. 

"I boarded the Kingfisher flight from Ahmedabad and reached Mumbai, from where I was supposed to take a connecting flight to Goa. 

I had barely taken a seat in the connecting flight around 12.30 pm when a crew member came and asked me to follow him. He also asked me to take my cabin baggage and kids with me.

Initially, I thought that he must be changing my seat, but realised something was amiss when he took me down some stairs," said Mansuri.

"I asked him why he was making me get off the plane but he refused to answer. When my kids and I got off, they closed the aircraft's doors and took off, leaving us standing there. 

One attendant told me later that I cannot travel with two kids as I am blind. I was shocked," she added. 

She kept telling the attendant that she had two young kids and needed to meet her husband in Goa, but to no avail.

Finally, close to 2 pm, a staff member came and told her that they would arrange for her to board a 4.40 pm flight to Goa.

"I did not want to bank on them anymore. I called my husband and he arranged for us to board another airline's 3.10 pm flight. 

My question is, how can they let me travel from Ahmedabad to Mumbai without any trouble and then say I cannot travel with two kids from Mumbai to Goa? I was travelling on the same airline in both cases," said Mansuri.

She said the experience was one of the worst she's had in her life. "I am blind but that doesn't mean they have the right to discriminate against me. 

I had paid the full fare and if they had some problems, they should have informed me before I boarded. My elder son is so traumatised by the incident, he says he does not want to fly anymore."

Husband reacts

Mansuri's husband, Samir, who is the Chairman of Blinds Dream, an NGO, wrote a letter to the airline to complain about the treatment meted out to her. 

A portion of the letter states, "Kingfisher officials told my wife that if she thought they were cruel, she shouldn't travel with them anymore."

"What the Kingfisher staff did to my wife is shameful. They had done something similar with me in 2005 (see box) and I will not let them get away this time. 

Flight tickets of Shabnam Mansuri and her two sons Lukman and Luftaan

They have replied to my letter but that is not enough. I will take this issue to the consumer court and will go to the Supreme Court if need be.

This is an insult to me and my family and I will not tolerate it under any circumstances," said Samir.

He alleged that he had come to know that his wife was made to disembark because of a VIP booking at the last moment, which led to the flight being overbooked. 

"If their company cannot handle blind people, they should declare that visually challenged people are not allowed to fly Kingfisher," he added. 

The Other Side

When MiD DAY contacted Kingfisher Airlines, they said they regretted the incident. Prakash Mirpuri, vice-president, corporate communications, Kingfisher Airlines Limited, said, "We are investigating the matter. 

In the meantime, we would like to convey our deep regret for the inconvenience that may have been caused inadvertently to our valued guests."

Earlier too

Dr Samir Mansuri, Shabnam's husband and a celebrity doctor who is also blind, had allegedly been insulted by Kingfisher Airlines in 2005 as well. According to Samir, he was travelling from Mumbai to Ahmedabad that year. 

"I was first in the queue to board the flight, but I was made to wait till all the other passengers boarded. When I went inside, they forced me to visit a washroom outside the aircraft even when I did not want to go.

They said they were doing that so I would't have to visit the airplane's loo when we were airborne. The crew told me that they could not allow me to use the aircraft's washroom as I am blind and there were female crew members on board," said Samir.

"I felt insulted and raised the issue in the media. Vijay Mallya then issued an apology for the indecent behaviour on the airline's part," he added.

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2011/may/210511-Shabnam-Mansuri-Kingfisher-crew-blind-woman-disembark-Airline-mumbai.htm

2010, Desikaran

Man denied wheelchair at T3


NEW DELHI : Even as airline officials crib about the huge area of terminal 3, a 77-year-old passenger, who had specifically requested for a wheelchair, was forced to walk the entire length of the terminal from the boarding gate to the car park when no arrangements had been made for him.


Desikaran, who had flown into Delhi from Chennai on an Air India flight to attend a Food Standard and Safety Authority of India conference, said walking is a highly-painful exercise for him because of which he had specially asked for a wheelchair when booking his ticket. "A wheelchair was provided in Chennai but nothing in Delhi. I landed at 11.45pm and had to walk all the way to the car park. There was a lady passenger with a similar request who also had to walk all the way," he said.


http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-11-10/delhi/28212962_1_wheelchair-car-park-air-india-flight

2010, Rizwan

Mentally challenged person 'grounded' by low-cost carrier


May 5, 2010


LUCKNOW : The alleged insensitivity shown by a prominent low-cost carrier in refusing to let a mentally disabled person board a flight led to a high-pitched drama at Amausi airport on Tuesday.


Talking to TOI from Mumbai, Nusrat Fatima Jafri said that her mother and sister were escorting her brother Rizwan (37), who is mentally challenged after his cerebrum was damaged when he was three days old.


While at the counter, the Indigo airlines staff refused to give them the boarding pass. They kept on saying that he (Rizwan) will be a "threat to other passengers" and that they could not allow them to board the flight as per the Indigo airlines policy, Jafri said, adding that this was despite the fact that they were carrying a medical certificate for the same. "Rizwan has travelled by air twice before, I don't know why the Indigo people refused to let them board the flight," she said.


The supervisor at Indigo counter, Rahul Gupta, refused to let them check in and when they asked him to give the reason in writing, he went off asking his juniors to "tackle" them, an indignant Nusrat said.


"However, it was the heights of rudeness when after the flight had taken off, they instead gave us a note claiming that we had not been allowed to board the flight as we had arrived late," Rizwan's sister Shaheen said. Shaheen, who was accompanying Rizwan for the Indigo airlines flight 6E-341, said that they had reached at 11.45 am and were at the counter by 12 noon. If we were late, how could they allow another passenger who arrived after us to board the flight? asked Shaheen.


When contacted, Indigo station incharge, Sagar denied the allegations, saying that the passengers arrived late and since they were refused permission to board the flight, they were just trying to harass the airlines.


"They are lying, they reported for check-in at 12.20 pm, while we had closed our counters at 12.10 pm," Sagar said.


http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-05-05/lucknow/28298674_1_indigo-airlines-flight-rizwan

2009, Hari Venkat

Booked himself on wheelchair, passenger denied flight


Posted: Mar 17, 2009 at 0128 hrs IST


He says luggage ejected, officials said no aide to take him on board; airline says he was in washroom before takeoff


Mumbai : A wheelchair-bound passenger alleged that he was denied entry to a flight and his luggage ejected on Sunday evening, even though he had informed the airline while booking his ticket that he would be on a wheelchair.


Hari Venkat (38) had booked a Go Air flight from Mumbai to Kochi to undergo spinal treatment. He cannot walk.


Go Air denied the allegation, saying Venkat was not flown because he had insisted on using the washroom minutes before takeoff. Venkat eventually left on a Spice Jet flight to Kochi the next morning.


His sister Anju said the Go Air staff told him, “We’ll deplane your luggage as we don’t have an assistant to take you on a wheelchair.”


Only last week, Newsline reported that a woman passenger had been asked to remove her salwar as she was wearing metallic calipers. While the woman managed to fight her way through and refused to remove her salwar, Venkat was helpless as he could not board the aircraft without aid from the airline’s helpers.


Venkat reached the airport at 3:15 for a 4:40 flight. He got the boarding pass; it was after he had proceeded towards security check that the ordeal began.


“It was terrible the way they treated me. When I arrived at the terminal, they had some problems with their systems and that delayed the boarding pass. And the assistant they gave me was an inept 18-year-old,” Venkat said from Kochi.


“At the security check I needed my boarding card, so I had to wait while the assistant they provided me kept chatting with someone. Eventually I had to shout to get myself through security check. By the time I reached the gate, an executive told me I couldn’t get in.”


Anju said passengers behind her brother passed by him and got on the aircraft while Hari waited for the airline’s assistant to take him on board. “After he was refused entry, he called up and said that they (airline staff) did not even apologise or offer a reimbursement,” said Anju.


The flight was not delayed. When Venkat was told he could not fly, it was 3:30pm, with over an hour left for takeoff.


Hari said an airline executive told him, “Talk to the supervisor as I don’t work for you.”


A circular dated May 1, 2008, from the DGCA to all passenger airlines says, “No airline shall refuse to carry persons with disability or persons with reduced mobility and their assistive aids/devices, escorts and guide dogs including their presence in the cabin, provided such persons or their representatives, at the time of booking and /or check-in for travel, inform the airlines of their requirement.”


Go Air had an explanation: “The passenger had a GoAir porter for assistance all through check-in and then into the security hold. The passenger insisted on using the washroom even though they were repeatedly informed about the delay that they were causing to the flight. All mandatory on-air and personal requests were made. However, the passenger showed no inclination to hasten the boarding process and hence it resulted in a gate no-show, since the flight was ready for take off,” said a spokesperson for the airline.


http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/booked-himself-on-wheelchair-passenger-denied-flight/435357/

2009, Shruti Paul

CISF guard at airport asks woman with leg braces to take off salwar


MUMBAI : Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel deployed at the Mumbai airport allegedly asked a disabled passenger to take off her salwar for security check because she had metallic braces on her legs. The Indian Express had reported how Mumbai airport has been receiving at least 10 to 15 complaints from passengers every month on the overbearing behaviour of the CISF personnel.


“I’ve never felt so disgusted and humiliated in my life and it was not the first time I was travelling,” said Shruti Paul, who was on her way to Lucknow on a Kingfisher flight last Friday. Shruti, who suffers from polio, said she was wearing a caliper on her left leg and braces on her right knee; this would make the metal detector beep every time she passed through it.


“I pulled up my salwar a little to show her my caliper, but she asked me to take it off in the open-ended women’s cubicle,” she alleged. She said her ordeal lasted about 20 minutes, during which she was made to get up thrice from her wheelchair and asked to remove her salwar.


“They said I was not cooperating with them. But I did all I could, considering the heightened security at airports these days. But I could not take off my salwar. I felt like a criminal,” she said, while stating that the woman CISF guard, P Poonam, kept talking on her mobile phone while she was checking her.


Eventually, a senior CISF officer asked the guard to let her go. “He asked me to carry a disability certificate the next time I travel,” said Shruti.


Sanjay Prakash, CISF’s Senior Commandant at Mumbai airport, was unavailable for comment. “While it is mandatory for every passenger to pass the metal detector to enter the terminal’s security hold area, this kind of behaviour is simply unheard of,” said an airport official.


http://www.indianexpress.com/news/cisf-guard-at-airport-asks-woman-with-leg-braces-to-take-off-salwar/432569/0

2009, Aiswarya Rao

Airlines and Disability

from: Aiswarya Rao aiswarya.rao@gmail.com
to: customerrelations@jetairways.com
cc: das@dgca.nic.in,  dri@dgca.nic.in,  scd@tn.nic.in
date: Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 4:32 AM
subject: Incident on 9W 0739 – 25th Feb 09


Sir/Madam,


I boarded Jet Airways flight no: 9W 0739 on 25th February 09 from Delhi to Chennai at about 10:30 p.m. ( 3 hours delayed).


I am a physically challenged person and mobile with a pair of calipers and crutches. I was travelling alone and I requested wheelchair assisstance for alighting the flight of steps that lead to the aircraft, as I usually do whenever I fly.


I was assigned seat 25D on that day. This is the last but one row from the rear exit. I requested the stewardess whether I may sit in the last row as it had more leg room. She obliged as there were no one seated there already and said that she would request anyone who may turn up for the seat to exchange with me. I was happy with the assisstance given and I sat in the window seat on the right side -last row. I sat by the window so that I may enjoy the view of the city lights when we take off and land. It is also less bothersome to other passengers if they have to cross over my stretched legs to move to seats inside.


After everyone had boarded, I discovered that the seat I was sitting in was not assigned to anybody. In about 5 minutes one of the stewards  – Mr. Mickey, came up to me and asked me to shift to the aisle seat. I overheard conversation between him and his supervisor just minutes ago that ‘the lady in the wheelchair’ needs to be seated in the aisle seat. When I asked him the reason, why I should shift to the aisle seat and he said that it was Jet Airways Safety 
Requirement, that disabled passengers be seated only in the aisle seats. I wondered why, and he answered that it was so that in an emeregency if a disabled passenger has to be evacuated, this seating will enable that they are evacuated.


I thought that the explanation was incredulous, as I have travelled on numerous occassions previously, several times at the window and I have never been given this reason for not being seated at the window. I clarified that I am not a wheelchair bound person and that the seating policy if it did exist did not apply to me, as I would be able to move out myself in the event of an emergency. Mr. Mickey said that he would get back to me. I smiled.


In a few minutes he returned with the same line, asking me to get up and to be seated in the aisle. Then he asked” What is your problem?” I said that I had “no problem”. I further clarified that I had polio myelitis. He asked me to shift my seat. I declined for the reason that I had already given him. He smiled and said that he understood and said that he would get back again.


In returned again in a few more minutes and asked me very politely, if I could just get up and sit in the aisle for the take off and then get back to the window seat after that. I was frankly irritated by this time. But I put up a quiet front and again asked why I should do so, as it is causing me a lot of discomfort. He agreed it was causing discomfort, apologised for the same, but insisted that I shift myself into the aisle seat. I was really curious this time and I asked him again what this security requirement is all about. He simply maintained that it was for all passengers who used a wheel chair for getting up the aircraft it was the Jet Airways seating policy and a safety regulation.


I told him to show me the safety instruction on seating passengers who used a wheelchair to be seated by the aisle only and not at the window. Until then I would not shift.


After that I was not bothered. Subsequently Mr. Mickey was courteous to me and served me my dinner without reference to the previous conversation.


Is it really Jet Airways seating policy to seat “wheelchair passengers” only in the aisle and are they discriminated from sitting near the window seat? Also there is a big difference between ‘wheelchair bound’ passengers and passengers who use a wheelchair only in airports for transport into the aircraft. Again, I am not a ‘lady in the wheelchair’, as identified by one of the main steward to Mr. Mickey which I overheard.


I hope Jet Airways is more sensitive to physically challenged passengers. I am also a member of the Tamilnadu State Coordination Committee for the Disabled and this attitude of airlines crew is disturbing.


Further the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) Section 3 Series ‘M’ Part I – Carriage of Physically Challenged passengers by Air issued by the Office of the Director General of Civil Aviation, New Delhi (dated 1st May 2008) states in its clause 7. 2.1 that “passengers with reduced mobility including the blind shall not be restricted to any particular cabin or seating areas, except when it is done for safety of passengers and avoid interference with evacuations or due to physical limitations of the aircraft”. If at all, I was seated away from the exit near the window and would not be an interference to evacuations!!


Expecting a clarification on the seating policy of Jet Airways which if it does exist, appears to be very unfair and going against the CAR issued by the DGCA.
sincerely,


Aiswarya

from: customerrelations@jetairways.comto: aiswarya.rao@gmail.comdate: Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 10:58 AMsubject: Fw: Incident on 9W 0739 – 25th Feb 09mailed-by: jetairways.com
Dear Ms Rao,This mail is with reference to youremail of date.Kindly allow us to examine the issueraised by you and we will surely revert to youMay we kindly request you to bear withus in the interim period.Yours Sincerely
R Viswanathan Customer Relations
—– Forwarded by CustomerRelations/Litolier/Jetairways on 02/27/2009 10:51 AM —–

http://draiswarya.wordpress.com/2012/02/24/airlines-and-disability/

2009, Senior Citizen

Airport bus ferrying flier on wheelchair catches fire


Feb 8, 2009


MUMBAI : An airport minibus, which was ferrying a wheelchair-bound passenger, caught fire just as it reached the arrival terminal of Mumbai airport on Saturday morning. However, no one was injured in the incident.


The passenger, who arrived on a Hyderabad-Mumbai Kingfisher Red flight, was being taken to the arrival terminal when a short-circuit occurred in the battery compartment of the bus, leading to the fire.


"The driver used the fire extinguisher, but was unable to douse it. The glass door of the bus was jammed and had to be broken to pull the passenger out. The fire started around 7.10 am and was extinguished by 7.19 am,'' a Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd spokesperson said. "The distance between the aircraft and the arrival area was short. The passenger was escorted by our personnel, who broke open the glass door,'' said a Kingfisher Airlines spokesperson.


http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-02-08/mumbai/28000187_1_airport-bus-arrival-terminal-extinguisher

2008, Shivani Gupta

Physically challenged activist sues airline


Neha Bhayana, Hindustan Times


Mumbai, July 25, 2008


When Shivani Gupta (38), a wheelchair-bound Delhi resident, took an Indian flight to Mumbai on June 16, she was not prepared for what lay ahead. Not only was she physically carried to her flight seat in Delhi, because there was no narrow wheelchair for the aircraft’s aisle, she was also charged Rs 1,685 for an ambulift, (a van with a special lift for the disabled) to board the return flight from Mumbai.


Gupta, an activist for the rights of the physically challenged, filed a complaint against Indian, the Mumbai International Airport Limited and the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).


The Office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, vested with powers of a civil court to hear complaints regarding the rights of the physically challenged, issued a show-cause notice to the authorities concerned.


“I felt humiliated and helpless when I was carried by the staff. They were not trained to handle people with disabilities and I sustained bruises on my shoulders. I could not use the toilet because there was no aisle chair,” said Gupta.


An Indian spokesperson said: “We provided a free ambulift at Delhi airport because we have our own service there. But in Mumbai, we had to hire an ambulift from the airport authority. Since they charged us for it, we had to recover the cost from the passenger,” said Jitendra Bhargava, Air India’s director (communications).


According to a May 1 directive from DGCA, charges may be levied for human assistance but the use of aids and appliances to access the aircraft are to be provided free to physically challenged passengers. The fact that Indian charged Gupta Rs 1,685 for the ambulift was in direct breach of this directive.


Gupta had pointed out the directive to the airline staff. “But the staff told me that they had not received any written information about the new law,” she said.


Spokesperson for Mumbai International Airport Limited Manish Kalghatgi said: “Facilitation of passage to the aircraft is the responsibility of the airline, not us.”


When Bhargava was asked why a narrow wheelchair was not available for the aircraft’s aisle, he said: “When passengers can’t go up to their seats, they are escorted. Since the passenger has made a complaint, we will argue the case when the hearing takes place.”



http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/HT-Story/Physically-challenged-activist-sues-airline/Article1-326396.aspx

2008, Salil Chaturvedi

I finally wrote on the form, my hands shaking: ‘Main Bimaar Nahin Hoon’


Salil Chaturvedi Is 39 years old. He acts in a children’s television serial, writes and designs for civil rights organisations and lives in Delhi


THERE WAS SO much I wanted to say to her but all I could manage was a sorry “So?” I wanted to tell her that I recently acted in a play directed by Feisal Alkazi. I wanted to tell her that sometimes children come up to me and asked, their eyes brimming with excitement, “Are you Jugadoo?” That’s the character I play in Galli Galli Sim Sim, the Indian adaptation of Sesame Street. I wanted to tell her that she was hurting me and breaking my spirit, but all I could manage was a befuddled stammer and a “S... S ...So?”


It was a clinching argument, as far as she was concerned. “But you are on a wheelchair, aren’t you?” she’d said. Since I was on a wheelchair, I was a sick person and I would have to sign the form that was meant to be signed by “sick” people when they boarded a plane. “But I’m not sick,” I said. “See, I’m travelling independently.” “But what are you sitting on? A wheelchair!” she chided me.


The face of the Brigadier flashed through my mind. “You’re still around,” I thought to myself. After all these years, you’re still around. You’re dressed as a ground staff member of SpiceJet, you’ve changed your gender and you’ve changed your age, but you’re still around. The retired Brigadier had been working at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA). I had made a presentation to Muktesh Pant, who used to be the CEO of Reebok at that time. He had been excited about the tournament and had decided to pay for the airfare and to kit the two-member team. The kit was sent directly to DLTA (although I knew its contents) and when we received it, I found that the jogging shoes were missing. So I asked the Brigadier about them. “But you are on a wheelchair!” he said. “So you won’t need to jog.” It had hurt then, too — for someone to look you straight in the eye and say you were lesser because you were on a wheelchair.


Back to the SpiceJet counter at Delhi airport. Since I insisted on not signing the form, the lady went to her senior, a young man who spoke to me like someone speaks to a child. “You will not board the flight if you don’t sign this form,” he said. Here I was, parked in a corner behind the desk, the other passengers wondering about my stubbornness. I felt everyone was against me. The whole damn system was singling me out. I finally wrote on the form in large letters, my hands shaking uncontrollably: “Main Bimaar Nahin Hoon” (I am not sick) and I refused to sign.


On the way back from Chennai it was nicer, but only for a while. I didn’t have to sign a form and the supervisor, on his own initiative, kept the seat next to me empty so I could put my legs up if I wanted to get more comfortable. Perhaps this flight will be different, I thought. But things changed quickly. I insisted that they board me before other passengers, as was the international norm. But they didn’t and I was carried down the aisle by two untrained porters, who carried me like a sack of potatoes while I tried to keep my trousers from slipping and closed my eyes to save myself from the embarrassment as all passengers turned their heads to look at me.


As the plane started its descent at Delhi I asked the air-hostess to make sure that my personal wheelchair was brought to the aircraft so I could sit on it directly. But the wheelchair was taken to arrivals, instead. It was midnight and I was exhausted, but the body pumped in some adrenalin to wake me up. The flight steward shook his head at my stubbornness. “Why can’t you use the airline chair?” he asked me. “It’s against the rules to give your chair from the hold.” That was a new one. How could I tell this clean-shaven, smart, cheerful young man that a wheelchair is not a wheelchair is not a wheelchair. He wouldn’t understand how I had spent the last two months recovering from a fall at the Bombay airport because I was on an airline wheelchair.


During the flight I had been re-reading Ben Okri’s Songs of Enchantment and had spent most of my flight mulling over one line that had sprung up from the page. “Love is the real power,” Azaro’s father says to him in the novel. It had held me in trance because of the magical way the line had been set up in the novel. I asked Ben Okri, as I waited in the aircraft, security staff and flight attendants irritated by my insistence, “How does one love all this, Ben?”


I thought about my wife, waiting for me at the arrival for the past two hours. For no reason I suddenly recalled how she stood on top of the bed so I could reach the end of her sari and adjust it for her. And I felt relieved and smiled to myself. Love, indeed, is the real power that guides us through our lives. SpiceJet too needs to learn how to love. So what if I’m in a wheelchair? •



http://www.tehelka.com/story_main39.asp?filename=hub280608personalhistory.asp


Paraplegic abandoned in aircraft

25/5/2008




It was a rather turbulent flight for paraplegic tennis player Salil Chaturvedi, who represented India in wheelchair tennis at the Australian Open in Melbourne. On Friday night’s Chennai-to-Delhi SpiceJet flight, he was not provided his wheelchair to disembark from the aircraft and was left cramped in his seat for over an hour.


On Thursday, when Chaturvedi flew SpiceJet to Chennai, he was neither offered priority boarding nor an aisle chair to board the plane. His urine bag was also yanked off. He told HT, “I was carried along the aisle by untrained porters like a sack of potatoes, while I tried to keep my trousers from slipping and closed my eyes to save myself from the embarrassment, as all passengers turned to look at me.”


The Directorate General of Civil Aviation rulebook, effective from May 1, stipulates that a passenger’s wheelchair should be returned to him at the time of disembarking. It is mandatory for every operator to provide ambulifts to enable disabled passengers embark/disembark the aircraft. But despite this, the crew insisted that Chaturvedi use the airline wheelchair. “They wouldn’t understand how I have spent the last two months recovering from an airline wheelchair fall at the Bombay airport,” Chaturvedi said.


SpiceJet regional manager (north) Rahul Bhatkoti said, “We have apologised to the passenger and will take corrective action. Clearly, the crew lacked awareness.” Chaturvedi, who has acted in a Feisal Alkazi play and the Indian adaptation of Sesame Street, was offered Coke after the trauma ended. “I have stopped drinking Coke. Not wanting to hurt their sensibilities, I took a sip and threw the rest when they weren’t looking,” he said.


http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/312971.aspx

2007, Rajiv Rajan

Private airline offloads wheelchair-bound man


Rema Nagarajan, TNN Jun 19, 2007, 01.01am IST


NEW DELHI: When NGO activist Rajiv Rajan, a cerebral palsy patient, was invited from Chennai to attend an urgent meeting in Delhi, little did he know of the airlines' bias against the disabled.


He uses a wheelchair and had flown earlier. But not this time. Rajan was booked to fly on an Air Sahara flight on Monday morning. But he was not allowed to board the aircraft by the airline staff as it deemed that he was not fit to fly and that he needed an escort or a "fitness to fly" certificate. Rajan explained he was a frequent flyer, but the staff wouldn't relent.

The staff of the airline - which has been taken over by Jet Airways and internally branded as Jet Lite - demanded to see the boarding passes of Rajan's previous air-trips and tried to push his wheelchair out of the airline office.

Rajan told TOI: "They even called in the police to send me out of the airport. A couple of policemen recognised me as a frequent flyer and tried to intervene on my behalf but the airline staff refused to listen."

And the flight (S2-142), scheduled at 6.35 am, took off leaving Rajan behind. Rajan, a sub-committee member of the National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities had been invited to a Trust meeting in Delhi.
The meeting was to discuss and plan national level training for local level committee members across 593 districts of the country - Rajan even explained the purpose of his travel to the airline staff, but to no avail.

After the scheduled flight left, and upon Rajan's insistence, the airline staff finally got in touch with the director of Rajan's NGO, Vidya Sagar, which works with children and young adults with neurological impairment. Finally, light dawned upon them and they offered to fly him by a different airline. However, Spice Jet which was approached, refused to issue him a ticket.
When contacted by TOI, a Jet spokesman claimed that Sahara was actually not under Jet's administrative control.

He, however, later offered to give a reaction to the incident the next day. A Spice Jet spokesman denied the incident altogether.

He said no wheelchair passenger had been denied a ticket by the airline on Monday. An angry convener of the Disability Rights Group, Javed Abidi, said: "The conduct of the employees of Air Sahara and Spice Jet amounts to violation of Rajan's constitutional rights to a life of dignity, equal opportunities, non-discrimination and to his freedom of movement. We are going to file a complaint in the consumer court and ensure that Rajan gets justice."

He added that this was not an isolated incident but one of several such similar incidents of marginalisation faced by the disabled. "Most of the mushrooming private airlines seem to have no disability policy in place and there have been several such complaints. They seem to associate wheelchairs with illness, and so, wheelchair users have the toughest time," he said.


http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2007-06-19/india/27965622_1_airline-staff-jet-airways-air-sahara

2005, Ahed Prithviraj

Is autism a threat at airport?


For a country with an estimated 1.7 million autistic people, we are probably the most insensitive bunch of people. On Thursday, eleven-year-old Ahed was denied entry into the airport. Reason: he is autistic. 


Ahed and his parents, Tamil actor Prithviraj and his wife Beena, were stoppedat the security gate of the Bangalore airport. CISF inspector Bhavesh Kumar told them that Ahed could not board the Air Deccan flight to Chennai because he looked different.


Furious at this insinuation, Prithviraj asked the officer to explain the rules under which he was stopping his son. "The officer merely replied that there are rules, but could not quote any. He kept saying my son could be a threat to other passengers," Prithviraj told the Hindustan Times.


"I started filming the argument and he kept blocking the camera lens. We had to argue for 30 minutes before the officer relented," Prithivraj said.


While his parents fought back vehemently, little Ahed kissed his mother repeatedly. Beena interpreted it as his way of saying, "It is all right. Don't worry."


This is not the first time Prithviraj has had to deal with such insensitive remarks about his son. An official at the Delhi airport once asked Prithviraj if his son was mad and the actor shot back: "You seem to be mad."


"We have never encountered such problems in Europe or other Asian countries," recalled Ahed's mother Bheena who runs a school for autistic children.


So has Prithviraj ever tried shoving a medical certificate at such ignorant officials? The actor said he once tried to get an autism certificate for his son from a medical authority in Delhi. "But autism has not been classified as a disability under the Disability Act. The authorities asked me if I could accept a certificate that labeled him mentally retarded," Prithviraj said.


The CISF, however, defended its official. And while doing so, its spokesman only betrayed his level of ignorance. He said the CISF officer was only following rules since international civil aviation rules do not permit a “mentally retarded person abroad an aircraft”.


http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/NM17/Is-autism-a-threat-at-airport/Article1-157627.aspx

At airports, autism too is a threat!




Chennai: In an incident that reflects on the utter insensitivity of security agencies manning India's airports, security staff in Bangalore Airport recently tried to stop an autistic child from boarding a plane, branding him a threat to other passengers.


This is a story sent to CNN-IBN by Tamil film actor Prithvi Raj, whose son was at the receiving end of this misdemeanour of airport security.


Says Prithvi Raj, who turned Citizen Journalist for CNN-IBN, "Our struggle is to integrate my son into the main stream society. We don't want special privilleges, but please do not treat him miserably."


The reason Prithvi Raj is angry is because he and his wife were told by the airport security in Bangalore that their autistic son Ahed, 'cannot board the flight to Chennai'.


When they asked why, this is how the security staff reacted:


Prithvi Raj: "Why can my son not board the flight?"


Security Officer: "You cannot shoot here with your camera."


Prithvi Raj: "Why can my son not go? Tell me why?"


Security Officer: "Because he's mentally Ill. That's why."


Prithvi Raj caught it all on camera.


"When my wife asked them they said, 'Aapka beta flight mein jayega aur baki passenger ko danger karega' (your son will be a danger to other passengers on the flight). Please, I understand we don't permit a toothpaste on a flight, but for God's sake, don't treat an 11-year-old like a terrorist," says Prithvi Raj.


The name of the officer who told this to Prithvi Raj is Bhavesh Kumar and Prithvi Raj had to argue with him for over half an hour before he could finally get Ahed on board their flight to Chennai.


The couple have had to endure such behaviour at other airports in the past, but it was as never this severe. They finally decided that enough was enough.


'It's happened to me in Delhi a couple of times and in other places. They ask me, 'Aapka beta pagal hai? (Is your son mad?), and I ask them 'Aap pagal hai? (Are you mad?). Is this the way you ask someone. And then they keep gesturing to each other, saying that my son is mad," says Prithvi Raj.


Says his wife Beena, "Ahed gets vibes when we are upset about something and after all that, he kept kissing me on my cheek as if to tell me, 'Mama it's okay'."


The question is here, how can people not be nice to a child like Ahed? The parents don't want venegance, they don't want suspensions or dismissals. All they are asking for is a concentrated effort to sensitise the society about the beauty of a differently-abled child.


AUTISM TRAITS


Difficulty in expressing needs, using gestures or pointing instead of words.


Repeating words or phrases in place of normal, responsive language.
Laughing or crying for no apparent reason or showing distress for reasons not apparent to others.
Preference to being alone.
Little or no eye contact.
Unresponsive to normal teaching methods.
Obsessive attachment to objects.
Apparent over-sensitivity or under-sensitivity to pain.
No real fears of danger.
Noticeable physical over-activity or extreme under-activity.
Non-responsive to verbal cues, acting as if deaf, although hearing tests in normal range.


WHAT IS AUTISM


Autism is a bit of a difficult disability to detect as it is a hidden disability of sorts.


Autistic children have a fascination with language, but they may be unresponsive towards normal teaching methods.


It is a developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and affects the normal functioning of the brain. It leads to difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication and social interactions.


(With inputs from Vibha Sachdev in New Delhi)


http://ibnlive.in.com/news/at-airports-autism-too-is-a-threat/23197-3.html

2005, Arman Ali

Airlines discrimination sparks protest


The Telegraph - Calcutta : Guwahati


June 24: The project co-ordinator of Regional Disabilty Law Unit, Northeast, an organisation dealing with rights of the disabled, Arman Ali, today moved the Gauhati High Court against what he calls a “deliberate and sustained policy of discrimination against disabled persons” by the state-owned Indian Airlines.


Arman himself is afflicted with locomotor disability. “Ali is not only speaking for himself but for his entire community,” said Siddharth Sankar Dey, Arman’s counsel.


The court of Justice A. Roy has fixed the matter for admission on July18.


Arman had booked a ticket with the Indian Airlines for travelling to Mumbai on a Guwahati-Calcutta-Mumbai flight on January 15 last year. Ali was scheduled to attend an international seminar on disability at Mumbai.


Indian Airlines issues what it calls M category tickets at concessional rates to visually-impaired persons and persons with locomotor disability of 80 per cent and above. “Though Ali had booked the ticket three weeks in advance, he was placed on the waiting list. But on the day of the journey, Ali found that his seat was not confirmed,” Dey said. He feels that the act was deliberate. “Passengers who had booked their tickets much later were given confirmation,” Dey said. “Ali was repeatedly told by the airlines that “everything will be arranged”. But no arrangements were made. Left with no choice, Ali had to purchase a ticket on a private airline to reach Mumbai.”


Dey said that it has become a standard practice for the airlines to place people like Ali on the waiting list.


“Regardless of when they may have booked the ticket, their tickets are not confirmed until the time of departure so as to accommodate other passengers who pay the full fare.”


Dey said as per the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 and a 1999 Supreme Court ruling, state-owned Indian Airlines is under legal obligation to pursue disabled-friendly policies. “That’s why persons with locomotor disabilities are provided concessional tickets under the M category. But unfortunately, in reality, Indian Airlines follows a blatant policy of discrimination.”


Ali is actively involved in creating awareness about disability-related laws and providing legal aid to disabled people.


The Regional Disability Law Unit works in collaboration with Shishu Sarothi, a local NGO and the National Centre for Promotion of Employment of Disabled People, New Delhi.


http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050625/asp/guwahati/story_4911678.asp