JetstarAsia turns away man in wheelchair

[Phillippe M]

Jetstar turns away man in wheelchair
NADJA HAINKE - February 26th, 2009

A WHEELCHAIR-BOUND man felt humiliated at a foreign airport when Jetstar refused to let him on board because he couldn't walk.

Glen McDonnell, 36, had travelled with the budget carrier from Darwin to Thailand via Singapore.

But when he was boarding the plane at Bangkok for his return flight, Jetstar staff told him they were unable to take him home.

Speaking from Bangkok airport yesterday, Mr McDonnell told the Northern Territory News that he felt humiliated.

"They told me I'm not allowed on the plane," he said. "I think it's very discriminating."

Mr McDonnell, who was left paraplegic after a motorcycle accident when he was 15 years old, travelled by himself to Thailand on December 2 for a two-month holiday.

His trip turned into a nightmare when he faced staff at the boarding gate in Bangkok.

"I checked in my luggage and went through customs and all that," the psychology student said.

"And then the station manager asked me if I could walk at all. I said no and he said I wasn't allowed on board.

"He was quite arrogant about it."

Mr McDonnell, who lives in Wagaman, said that he had to check out again and wait for his luggage to return.

However, he said that after his "making a fuss" the airline booked him on another flight last night and gave him a $150 voucher for a hotel room in Singapore.

Jetstar Asia failed to return calls from the Northern Territory News last night.

The airline's Australian sister company came under fire for similar incidents in 2005 when two Hobart sportspeople were told they could not travel on a Jetstar flight because they were wheelchair-bound.

The men, returning from the Australian Wheelchair Tennis Open in Melbourne, said they were capable of looking after themselves.

But when the pair was sitting in the plane, the pilot told them they had to check out again because they did not have any carers.

And a Territory family was stopped from boarding a Tiger Airways flight from Darwin to Singapore two years ago because daughter Anastasia Maillis was disabled.

The family was told to leave the girl behind but they refused and lost $15,000 worth of travel expenses.

http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/200...81_ntnews.html