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
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
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/
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
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 —–
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
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
