Ugh! I hate that my latest blog is documenting another issue with air travel, but it’s important to highlight the trials we face so that we can get to a point where travelling whilst disabled is free of difficulty.

Below is a copy of a complaint I submitted to Jet2 about an awful experience I had yesterday.

I can only wait to read their response and hope that it addresses the issues I faced.

Complaint

Hello,

Earlier today, I spoke with Ashleigh, the Front of House Supervisor at Edinburgh Airport, regarding a distressing experience I had with members of the flight crew, during which I was made to feel responsible for my mobility equipment not being brought to the airbridge.

I’m following up by email as per your processes.

Preface

I’d like to preface this complaint with an acknowledgement that Jet2 have consistently been my favourite airline due to the service I’ve received from cabin crew, your willingness to provide free adapted transfers for those who aren’t able to board a coach and your support during an incident at Glasgow Airport last July, where a member of the Menzies Aviation ground crew dropped my Electronic Power Attachment (Triride) from the baggage platform on purpose.

Menzies were next useless, but your support was invaluable. See here for my documentation of those issues and the praise I’ve offered to your airline. 

Please also note that you offered me £700 in credit towards a Jet2 holiday and free in-flight meals for my family, a gesture to make up for the poor experience last year and ensure we continued to see Jet2 as a reliable, reactive and responsible organisation. 

That £700 was put towards this holiday.

I would also like to add that my job is to review disabled access at transport venues such as airports and train stations. I often speak at events to large groups of disabled people, their friends, families and carers on my experiences of travel as a disabled person and sing your praises to those I speak to, which makes my treatment on a recent flight all the more disappointing.

Thursday 14 August

On Thursday, 14 August, I flew from Thessaloniki Airport to Edinburgh Airport, returning from a week-long holiday.

At Thessaloniki Airport, I attended the check-in desk where I confirmed to the check-in staff that I was travelling with a manual wheelchair and Electronic Power Attachment.

We confirmed three things.

1: I would be taking the device and my chair to the gate.
2: I had a walking stick in my bag, which I’d use to get from the ambulift to my seat.
3: The battery from my Electronic Power Attachment was flight safe, and I would remove it and take it on board.

This is all we discussed.

I was taken through security and passport control relatively quickly. When it was time to board, I was taken to an elevator along with three other wheelchair users, two of whom were elderly, using airport-provided chairs, and the other was my 21-year-old nephew and his parents. 

My wife and 13-year-old daughter joined the queue with the other passengers.

We boarded the ambulift, and after everyone else was safely on board, I separated my Electronic Power Attachment from the chair, removed the battery and used my stick to board the plane and get to my seat. All went well.

However, when we landed, issues arose.

I was expecting my wheelchair and Electronic Power Attachment to be brought to the airbridge, as on every flight I’ve taken in the past three years. My nephew’s wheelchair was retrieved as he can’t use the aisle seat or airport wheelchairs, and they were led off the plane.

I, however, was informed that I’d need to collect my chair and Electronic Power Attachment from baggage reclaim and that I’d need to be taken there by a member of the assistance team.

I sought an explanation from a flight attendant as I was unsure why this was the case. I had specified on a call to Jet2 that I’d be using my own chair and Electronic Power Attachment at all airports, taking it up to the gate on departure and collecting the device on the ambulift/airbridge on arrival.

I remain anxious at the thought of my equipment being damaged as referenced above, as not only do my chair and Electronic Power Attachment function as my legs, but no airline’s liability limit will cover the full cost of the device being broken. 

I like to have my equipment brought to me, so I can assess it for damage on arrival, and to free up the assistance staff for those who may need support throughout the airport. Most importantly, my Electronic Power Attachment allows me to retain my independence and navigate the airport easily.

I was informed by a dark-haired attendant that my chair wasn’t being brought to me as I had coded myself as a Sierra when I should have coded myself as a Charlie. 

I much prefer to go by ‘Joe’.

Humour aside, it was asserted that this was my error, and as such, I would have to go to baggage reclaim to collect my wheelchair. Point of note, my wheelchair hadn’t been offloaded at this time, so it was local and could have been brought up promptly.

I explained this had never happened before, and again it was insisted that it was because I was Sierra rather than a Charlie that my wheelchair couldn’t be brought to me.

Rather than apply logic and accept that there was an error somewhere that we as humans could navigate together, it was determined by both the blonde and brunette members of the flight crew that the best approach would be to make clear this was my fault, tell me that next time I should make sure I’m coded Charlie by saying I can’t walk at all, and to remove my autonomy.

The suggestion I just lie is dangerous and frankly terrible guidance. Why should I fabricate the extent of my impairments, just to make sure my actual needs are met? 

Surely knowledge that I could make it down the steps in an emergency would be useful for the flight crew in the event of an evacuation?

I don’t know about Jet2, but I’d rather that I didn’t prevent the assistance of another passenger because I was advised to lie about my impairment.

I felt there was no understanding of the basic fact that my wheelchair is functionally my legs. All of the focus was placed on the apparent coding issue and my understanding of it, and not that I didn’t have my wheelchair.

I don’t care about the error. Things go wrong, and as a disabled person, these things happen to us regularly. Things take a little longer for us, and we are forced to tolerate this until such a point as society as a whole “gets it”, but you know what makes this easier? Understanding our needs and a willingness to seek a solution.

During my enquiries, it was made clear again that I should make sure I’m coded properly. When I highlighted that no conversation was held about this in Thessaloniki, I was told, “All airports are different”.

If all airports are different, how do I know how each works? The expectation that I accept that half-baked answer is frankly insulting. I don’t need to know the inner workings of the airline or indeed airports, or the terminology you use; I just need the assistance I asked for four months earlier.

I endeavoured to find out how my equipment would make it to the baggage reclaim, particularly concerned about my chair or power attachment being put through the belts. I was simply told again that it would go to baggage reclaim.

A member of the ground crew assured me they’d take it to baggage reclaim for me. This one person did more to allay my fears than the crew on the plane, as he at least could fathom why I might be distressed.

After a few more instances of trying to make things clear and be heard, I felt I had no choice but to relent, as it was increasingly clear that I was not going to be treated like a person and my words would be ignored because of my placement in the phonetic alphabet.

I would be treated like a burden, another entitled disabled person and nothing more. In short, it felt clear that they wanted me off the plane as quickly as possible.

Due to where we were located at the time, my wife had stepped onto the airbridge, my daughter was in the seat beside me as they started to strap me into the aisle chair.

I asked that my daughter be allowed to get off and be with my wife, but they were insistent that I be strapped in. I pleaded that they listen to me, that having my daughter safely off the plane would be one less concern – I was in no danger of falling or tipping. I ended up budging the aisle chair myself to let her step over me.

As a Sierra, it was understood that I had some walking ability, but I felt forced into the aisle chair. I could have made it off the plane to the assistance chair on the bridge, but I wasn’t allowed to do this.

I was strapped into the chair, feeling that I had to give control of my body to a stranger.

On trying to get off, the conversation returned to how I should have been coded as Charlie. At that point, I made clear I didn’t want an explanation; I just wanted off the plane.

The blonde and brunette flight attendants simply refused to see my perspective. All they could do was focus on my Sierra status. They sought to assign blame rather than offer a solution.

I expect you’ve seen this in other complaints from disabled passengers, but I’ll state it here once more. Our wheelchairs are our legs. If a non-disabled person was forced to give up the ability to use their legs, be fastened to a chair, and have their egress substantially extended, they wouldn’t be happy. We’re no different!

I’d like to take a moment here to tell you how I felt in that aisle chair.

I felt small. I felt that I had first been stripped of my ability to self-advocate, that my voice was considered little more than an irritating whisper from exasperated lungs.

As the straps were fastened, I relinquished control of my body to a stranger, my legs were tethered, and I was quite literally “wheelchair bound” a term here that refers to my being fastened to a chair so that I could not exist without it.

As my ability to move freely was taken away, I felt more disabled in those few minutes than I have in years. In those moments, I was made vulnerable.

Getting off the plane was one thing. I then had to transfer to the assistance chair to get through the airport with the single member of the OCS assistance crew and two other assisted passengers. This was an ordeal.

Firstly, there was one person supporting the three of us, which I suspect is due to my being “difficult”. It was such a struggle that my wife had to push me while my daughter held open the doors to assist everyone else.

I should add that only one side of the several sets of double doors was able to be opened, meaning there was less than a centimetre on either side of the assistance chair to get through the door frame.

During this time, I could also hear Jet2 staff behind me talking about how they were just trying to make me understand what was happening – I called back, letting them know I could still hear them. It’s far from pleasant to hear people talking about you, particularly when you’re distressed.

We were then taken to a lift, where the OCS staff member had to make three trips to get everyone down to the correct floor. 

My daughter and wife were effectively conscripted to join the assistance team. If they had not waited with me, I have no idea how that one person could have hoped to hold the door and get three of us through.

The actions of the flight crew resulted in an additional burden being placed on my family to navigate the airport, and my daughter witnessed my distress, not to mention the additional time added due to the requirement for assistance and having to log a complaint at a time I should be venturing home.

If you can see the true nature of my concerns, unlike the members of the flight crew, I’m sure you’ll agree this is far from acceptable.

All of this could have been avoided if the crew had been less concerned with the phonetic alphabet and more concerned with the disabled man seeking human decency and simple understanding.

I felt nothing short of humiliated.

I will, however, recognise the compassion and understanding shown by Ashleigh, the supervisor who heard and recorded my complaint at baggage reclaim. I felt listened to and, most importantly, like an actual person. Please make sure this statement reaches her.

Additional issues

I had intended to look past this, but given that my trip was bookended by undue stress, I’ll share this experience from the start of my holiday.

As we had the adapted transfer, we arrived at the Anna Hotel at 2 pm, which I later learned was an hour before check-in.

When we arrived at 2pm, we were advised that there were no ground-floor rooms available to us, despite the hotel confirming with Jet2 that this request would be honoured.

We did not operate on the assumption that the room would be wholly accessible as we could manage, provided we could actually get into our room. That’s what we do, we adapt.

It took them two and a half hours to sort out a room for us, which involved them moving another family out. In those two and a half hours, we weren’t offered so much as a glass of water. It was over 30 degrees!

When I spoke to the proprietor later that evening, they asked if everything was okay. I explained the issues and that being left for 2.5 hours without due care was not the best start to the holiday.

She then insisted it was only 1.5 hours and that check-in didn’t open until 3 pm, pointing to a sign that stated this.

I explained that whether or not check-in was at 3 pm, we still waited 2.5 hours to be told we had somewhere suitable to sleep. They insisted when asked that Jet2 didn’t make them aware that we required a ground-floor room.

We spoke to our rep, Jane, who made clear that the hotel did know and had confirmed it as per our communication logs. Jane apologised, but the hotelier didn’t offer an apology at any point, instead preferring to put a bottle of wine and some fruit in our room – sometimes words speak louder than actions.

We were willing to overlook these issues, seeing it more as feedback than a complaint, as this will hopefully make staying at the hotel less challenging for other disabled holidaymakers, but it feels that I should reference it here.

I’m sure you’ll agree that a holiday should be relaxing, but the actions of the flight crew went a long way to undo that. We had plenty of enjoyment during our trip, but it will always be overshadowed by how I was made to feel by the crew of an airline I once believed I could trust.

I await your response.

Joe.