A differently-abled woman passenger flying with Indian’s national carrier has alleged that the airlines forced her to “crawl” to the passenger coach after deboarding the flight.
Anita Ghai was quoted by PTI as saying that the national carrier failed to arrange a wheel chair for her due to “security” reasons. The airline has denied the charge adding that a wheel chair was provided to her at aircraft doorstep itself.
The incident allegedly took place on Friday when Anita Ghai, a Delhi University associate professor, landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi by the carrier’s regional arm, Alliance Air from Dehradun and requested for a wheel chair.
“I boarded this flight with four of my colleagues. Despite my repeated request, the (air) hostess did not recognise my requirement for a wheel chair after reaching. The flight reached at 7:30 PM. I waited patiently with one of my friends,” the news agency quoted her as saying.
She added, “At 8:15 PM, we realised that there was no chance of (getting) a wheel chair. The (passenger) coach came at 8.30 PM after repeated requests from the flight commander. Since security reasons are critical they made me crawl to go to the coach.”
However, the airline issued a statement denying the charge.
It said, “We strongly deny the statement…We at Air India give utmost importance to passenger’s safety and comfort.
“Since passengers were getting down from the aircraft, our support staff actively helped the passenger to come out of the plane and the wheelchair was provided at the doorstep.”
But the airline did say that it ‘deeply regret any inconvenience caused to the passenger.’