Airlines warned not to bar disabled

Steve Creedy, Aviation writer | December 11, 2007

LOW-COST carriers have been warned not to attempt to cut costs by discriminating against the disabled after two airlines recently sought exemptions from laws designed to grant handicapped travellers equal access to transport.

Singapore-backed Tiger Airways has applied to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission for an exemption to the Disability Act so it cantemporarily refuse to carry some passengers with limited mobility.

It says it needs to do this because it does not have the equipment to get wheelchair-bound people safely on to its Airbus A320 jets.

Disability groups are also fighting a move by Australia’s biggest independent regional carrier, Regional Express (Rex), to introduce restrictions they say will make flying harder for disabled people in the bush.

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre is pursuing court action against Virgin Blue to head off moves to require some people with disabilities to buy a second ticket for a carer if they want to travel.

“It’s fine for low-cost or budget airlines to reduce services,” human rights commissioner Graeme Innes said yesterday. “But not carrying passengers with disabilities can’t be part of those reductions and to do so is against the law.

“As commissioner, I intend to ensure wherever I can that airlines meet their obligations to all passengers, not just passengers without disabilities.”

Tiger is offering affected passengers a full refund and says the problem stems from the inability of its third-party ground handler to obtain special hydraulic devices capable of lifting wheelchairs on to planes. It did not expect the lifters to be available at all destinations until the end of February.

Tiger’s application comes as a report, due to be released this week by the PIAC, says an analysis of the experiences of 110 airline passengers demonstrates a systemic failure of legislation introduced in 2002 to set standards for disabled access to public transport.

The report finds recent development and application of airline policy, and changes to baggage handling, have made disabled access more difficult, particularly for people with motorised or bigger wheelchairs.

“Some passengers who travelled independently for many years now find themselves barred from travel or facing the imposition of unreasonable conditions,” it says.

Once seated inside the aircraft, the movement of passengers with mobility impairments are extremely restricted. The few times that such passengers need to move around is to go to the toilet. An on-board aisle chair is used for this purpose. The on-board aisle chair is a narrow high-backed chair with small wheels. It is lightweight and foldable. When folded, it is very compact and fits into the overhead compartment of the aircraft. The aisle chair has straps for securing the chest, hip and ankles. This is to ensure that users with poor postural balance do not fall off the chair or get their limbs entangled in the chair or other things along the aisle. Cabin crews will usually assist to push the aisle chair to the toilet and back. Disabled persons who require the use of an on-board aisle chair should inform the airlines in advance as not all aircrafts are equipped with one.

Aisle chair that AirAsia displayed during a press conference on August 4, 2007.
The budget airlines announced that all its aircrafts will have aisle chairs.
Photo by Wuan.

Related entry:
Aircraft Boarding Chair
AirAsia - Aisle Chair In Every Aircraft

Every journey has to come to an end. On a bus, one simply has to press the buzzer to let the driver know that he or she wants to get down at the next stop. I pressed the buzzer on my journey with the Barrier-Free Environment and Accessible Transport Group (BEAT) and had gotten down from the bus already.

The reaction from some of my colleagues in BEAT to my circulating an email on the bad experience with AirAsia to the entire group recently literally took the wind out of my sail. I was chided for revealing that I was compelled to sign an indemnity form before I was allowed to board the plane. I guess it never occurred to them what I had to give up the moment I signed the form.

I do not regret blogging about it. I do not regret being part of BEAT. I do not regret leaving BEAT. I am first and foremost a blogger. I want the freedom to blog without fear or favour. I will continue to blog about such injustices perpetrated against disabled people. This is what The Digital Awakening is all about – my life, my thoughts and my opinions.

Scott Rains blogs about “travel, disabilty and universal design” in Rolling Rains Reports. He gave his perspective on my experience in having to sign an indemnity form before I was allowed to board an AirAsia plane recently.

Despite assurances by AirAsia CEO Datuk Tony Fernandez on July 20 and again on August 4 this year that disabled passengers will be treated with dignity, the airlines is still subjecting disabled passengers to discriminatory policies. I personally experienced this recently and I am not pleased at all. Even though I am part of a group that is working with AirAsia in addressing issues related to disabled passengers I am going to reveal this as I do not take lightly to being subjected to such practices.

Wuan and I flew from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu on October 27 without incident. We were allowed to board first. I was impressed with the efficiency of AirAsia’s ground crews in carrying me into the plane. Wuan took the window seat. I was seated next to her in the middle. A young woman took the aisle seat. We had a wonderful flight and were all praises for AirAsia.

Not looking too pleased while waiting for an AirAsia staff confirm with
her boss whether I needed to sign the indemnity form or not.

Our journey back to Kuala Lumpur on October 30 was another story. I was required to sign an indemnity form to release AirAsia from all liabilities. I protested vehemently but was informed that if I refused I would not be allowed into the plane. When asked why I was not required to sign an indemnity form on the previous flight, the officer said she does not know but that was a requirement and I had to sign no matter what. I called up a staff from AirAsia Academy regarding this but she could not do anything.

I also witnessed several other disabled people on flights different from ours signing the indemnity form. As we did not want to miss our flight back, I relented but indicated in the indemnity form that I was signing under protest at being discriminated based on my condition. I paid the full fare like other passengers in the same flight but by signing the indemnity form, I was agreeing to give up my rights to hold AirAsia liable for damages, injuries or other claims even if those arose from the negligence of the airlines.

Signing the AirAsia Release and Indemnity Form under protest while two AirAsia staff looked on.

This in essence deprived me of the same rights as other non-disabled passengers. In AirAsia’s eyes, a disabled passenger is a person who has no rights whatsoever. By carrying me, I was supposed to be grateful. If I was injured, well, too bad. Additionally if I made AirAsia incur additional expenses due to their generosity in allowing me to fly with them I had to reimburse the amount. Where is justice in this?

The most preposterous part of this all was the last line which indicated that I signed the form on my own free will and was not under the influence of AirAsia or other parties. I was arm-twisted into signing it or risk missing my flight and AirAsia has the gall to add this nonsensical line which was truly adding insult to injury.

Release and Indemnity Form that AirAsia made all disabled passengers
wheelchair users sign at Kota Kinabalu International Airport before we
were allowed to board the aircraft.
Click on image for larger version.

That was not all. I was allowed to board first. One of the cabin crew indicated to the ground crews who carried me into the plane to place me on the bulkhead seat. I insisted on being seated on the second row. After kicking up a fuss, the cabin crew reluctantly agreed. I have poor balance. Bulkhead seats have extra space in front which does not give me anything to hold on to when the plane lands and decelerates. The sudden change in momentum will throw my body forward and may cause injury.

As we did on our flight from Kuala Lumpur, Wuan took the window seat while I sat next to her. The cabin crew insisted that I take the window seat. I told her that her colleagues in the previous flight and other airlines had no problems with me taking the seat of my choice. Still, she insisted that I take the window seat.

Instead of changing seats with Wuan, I took the aisle seat. The same cabin crew again approached me. She refused to listen to my explanations and was adamant that I take the window seat, citing that she had consulted the safety officer who was on-board. The reason was that I would be blocking other passengers’ path in case of an emergency evacuation if I was seated anywhere other than window seats. Not wanting to create a scene or being sent off the plane, I agreed to that too. Some disabled passengers are unable to move from the aisle seat to the window seat. I would like to see how AirAsia deals with that.

It is evident that AirAsia is not consistent in its policies with regards to disabled passengers. After those two incidents, I will never ever fly with AirAsia again unless they remove those discriminatory conditions imposed on disabled people no matter how attractive their air tickets are priced. I will not tolerate discrimination against disabled persons like those perpetuated by any party. Never mind the promises made by Datuk Fernandez. AirAsia is still practicing discrimination against disabled people. Most of all, AirAsia has ruined the beautiful memories I had in Kota Kinabalu on my honeymoon.

In December last year, Malaysia Airlines made Professor Yutaka Takamine sign an indemnity form before allowing him to fly from Japan to Malaysia to speak at the Real Access for Life (ReAL) Roundtable (Persidangan Akses untuk Kehidupan Sebenar) organised by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development. Professor Yutaka revealed this to Dato’ Seri Shahrizat who opened the confernece. Malaysia Airlines later apologised to Professor Yutaka and indicated that it was a mistake and not a policy to compel disabled passengers to sign indemnity forms. AirAsia better take note of this.