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On a flight from Warsaw back to London on Monday I had to crawl on the floor of the plane in order to reach the toilet.
I have been paralysed ever since I was shot by al-Qaeda gunmen in Saudi Arabia 20 years ago.
My experience onboard the flight was both physically deeply uncomfortable and also, of course, quite degrading.
I know that the discomfort that I and other disabled passengers encounter is dwarfed by the horrors being experienced by people in conflict zones around the world, stories that I cover – so my own experience is minor by comparison.
In this instance it was humiliating to have to shuffle along the floor of an aircraft in front of other passengers in my suit.
Polish Airlines LOT, which flies in and out of Heathrow, said it was not their policy to have onboard aisle chairs.
This is unacceptable for disabled passengers, since these devices are smaller than a pram, and can easily fold up to fit into a cupboard or an overhead locker.
British Airways, Easyjet, and every other airline I have flown with recently all have them on board as standard.
This shouldn’t be difficult to fix in my opinion. This ‘policy’ is surely wrong – it needs to be changed without delay.
This is 2024, not 1970, and I find it extraordinary that an airline is allowed to fly in and out of British airports with a policy that effectively says ‘if you can’t walk, you can’t go to the toilet on our planes’.
In a statement to the BBC, Polish Airlines LOT said they were “deeply sorry for the distressing experience”, and that they “sincerely apologise for the inconvenience and discomfort caused by the lack of an onboard wheelchair”.
They said that due to “limited space” its short-haul flights do not have onboard wheelchairs, but that the airline understands “the importance of accessibility” and is “actively testing solutions to equip our short-haul aircraft with onboard wheelchairs in the near future”.
I’m afraid I don’t accept this as I flew with them in May from Tallinn to London, and the same thing happened there. In fact, their ground staff were really quite uncompromising and dismissed the idea that the plane should have this facility.
The Polish cabin staff on Monday’s flight, however, were fantastic.
They were embarrassed, apologetic and as helpful as they could be. They encouraged me to complain about this as they could see how wrong it was.
I experienced something similar 12 years ago on Kenya Airways. After raising it publicly they did a wonderful job of rectifying the problem, and I had some lovely letters from travel companies telling me how grateful they were that their disabled clients now felt comfortable flying with that airline.
I am surprised at having to raise this again. The UK rightly makes a big deal about disability rights. Television presenter and campaigner Sophie Morgan is doing a fantastic job of raising awareness in this area, even meeting President Biden to discuss it.
But it is shameful that disabled passengers flying out of British airports should still be so discriminated against in this way.
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