An Airline Passenger Who Can't Walk Says She Crawled Off A Flight & Wheelchairs Cost Extra
"I have never felt so degraded in my life." Check-in for Jetstar.
An Australian woman with a disability says she had no choice but to crawl off a recent Jetstar flight, after she says she was allegedly refused a wheelchair unless she paid an extra fee.
Natalie Curtis felt "humiliated" after the incident, which happened at the end of a flight from Singapore to Bangkok for her 40th birthday celebration last month. She says she was left with no option but to crawl down the aisle and out of the plane, after what the airline says was a "miscommunication."
Curtis shared her experience on the Facebook group called "why we hate Jetstar," where it has since blown up.
In her post, she explained that airline staff members assisted her when boarding the flight and wheeled her to her seat in an aisle chair, which is a slim and plane-friendly wheelchair.
"After landing in Bangkok, the flight attendant wanted me to pay to use an aisle chair," she wrote. "I refused to pay as I have never had to do that in the past…so I had to crawl to my wheelchair," shared Curtis in her post.
"I have never felt so degraded in my life," she added.
She says she captured and briefly posted video of the incident, but later deleted it because she felt like she had to "show it or was a liar."
"Not sure anyone would want to lie about that," she added.
Jetstar's website says that passengers can request wheelchair assistance ahead of time on flights. It also says there is a wheelchair fee on Jetstar Asia flights.
"We unreservedly apologize to Ms. Curtis for her recent experience while travelling with us," a Jetstar spokesperson said in a statement to Australia's 7 News.
The spokesperson said the incident happened "following a miscommunication that resulted in the delay of an aisle chair being made available at the gate on arrival and we are looking into what happened as a matter of urgency."
They also stated that "at no point was an aisle chair withheld due to a request for payment."
The airlines also offered Curtis a full refund and a voucher, but she expressed that she had no desire to fly with Jetstar ever again.
Instead, she informed everyone in a comment under her post that the Australian news channel Sunrise reached out and "offered to fly [her] home first class with Qantas."