Jetstar made the news again last week for refusing to allow a wheelchair-bound man to board a flight in Bangkok – after he’d already checked in and lodged his baggage.
To make it even worse, he’d already flown with Jetstar from Darwin to Thailand via Singapore.
Apparently the airline asked Mr McDonnell whether or not he could walk “a bit” to get himself on the plan ad when he said no, they told him he could not board. In an attempt at compensation, Jetstar did apparently book him on a flight the next day and give him a $150 voucher for accomodation in Singapore that night.
Whilst it was no doubt an apalling situation, I think the real issue was not so much that Jetstar couldn’t handle a disabled person as much as their inconsistency. If budget airlines or in this case Jetstar in parrticular, do not have the facilities to handle a disabled passenger then whilst its not good, at least they need to make people aware and be consistent in this. If they can handle people in wheelchairs sometimes but not others then it makes it impossible for people to plan and they would never know if they’re going to be accepted on a particular leg of a flight.
Similar limitations have come up with other budget carriers – their inability to accept unaccompanied children, older people who are not as able to get onto the plane without assistance, overweight people etc. You have to accept I guess that with a low cost carrier there will be limitations. Whilst its not fair that these lead to discrimination against certain minorities, its also understandable from the airline’s perspective. If people know that a low cost carrier can’t handle this situation from the outset then they know not to book with them. But if they’re inconsistent in applying their “rules” or in admitting their limitations then it leads to situations like Mr McDonnell experienced.
