Cathay Pacific discriminating against the disabled passengers

People with Disabilities protest against Airliner's discrimination

Nov 24, 2011

TAIPEI, TAIWAN: A group of disabled people gathered Wednesday at the Taipei office of Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways (CPA) to protest the company’s move to reject a disabled passenger from a flight earlier in November.

Lin Yi-ru, who is wheelchair user, was scheduled to travel alone on a Cathay Pacific Airways flight from Taipei to Hong Kong on Nov. 2 and transfer to a Lufthansa flight for Munich, Germany for a seminar. However, after boarding in Taipei, Lin was asked to leave the plane because CPA thought she was not capable of taking care of herself.

It was pure discrimination, Lin stated, adding that CPA even neglected her after she had disembarked, which meant her itinerary was disrupted.

“It was very late. I kept asking CPA to arrange another flight for me, but I ended up taking a direct China Airlines (CAL) flight to Frankfurt instead,” she noted.

The group of protesters questioned why CPA ejected Lin from the flight if CAL allowed her to take the flight by herself.

In response to the protest, Ling Wei-chien, a marketing manager at CPA, said the incident had nothing to do with discrimination, pointing out that the company hired many disabled workers.

He explained that the decision to ask Lin to disembark was based on the company’s rule that if a passenger does not seem to have the ability to take care of oneself, the passenger must be accompanied by another person. Ultimately, Ling said, as Lin violated the rule, the decision was made to ensure aviation safety.

The manager said that the airline would apologize for not taking responsibility for Lin after she had disembarked, but insisted that the company’s decision was based on safety reasons.

Source: http://focustaiwan.tw

Reality Check by Hindustan Times on CAR and its implementation

Dear Friends,

Post the incident of Kingfisher denying equal rights to  a blind woman passenger covered in the earlier post on this blog, Hindustan Times did a reality check on all major airlines and a very sorry state of affairs appeared. None of the airline officials were found trained on dealing with the persons with disabilities in utter disregard of DGCA's  Civil Aviation Requirement on Carriage by Air of Persons with Disabilities and Persons with Reduced Mobility!

A few days back an  Air Ambulance (single engine) crashed in a residential colony in Faridabad, Haryana instantly killing 3 residents and 7 on board people including the pilots, doctors, attendants and the patient in comma! And DGCA confirmed that Apollo was running this services in violation of the DGCA's CAR which do not permit single engine planes for medical evacuation flights, though it permits single engine planes on domestic routes only.

DGCA has created a number of CARs which are available on its website. But does it have any monitoring mechanism that ensures that the rules/regulations are also implemented and when flouted, are dealt with a iron hand? If not then DGCA is going a defunct body with no control over the mandate that it has been given to handle. They need to pull up their socks before it is too late!

Subhash Chandra Vashishth

To read from source click here: Hindustan Times

No sight no flight?

HT City Correspondent, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, May 24, 2011

Even the skies don’t care for blind people in India. After Kingfisher Airlines recently made a woman get off a flight because she was blind, we ran a reality check on other domestic airlines and found that contrary to international practices, most carriers in India do not allow blind.


When we called the tele-booking counters for Jet Airways, Kingfisher, Spice Jet, Go Air and Indigo, requesting to book a ticket for a blind adult who would travel unaccompanied, all of the above refused.

While Jet Airways demanded that a co-passenger with sight accompany the passenger, the operator at Indigo’s counter insisted that a guide dog, along with a ‘moisture absorbing’ mat for it, is a must with the passenger. Kingfisher and Spice Jet, too, refused to allow such a passenger unless accompanied by an adult with sight.

Later, when we contacted the same airlines’ corporate offices for clarity on their rules, most spokespersons evaded the question or said they’ll revert after checking the rulebook. An Indian Airlines official, however, said, “We have escorts for blind passengers at the airport, and we’ve never had any complaints.” 

On May 10, Shabnam Mansoori, a resident of Ahmedabad, who was flying to Goa with her two minor sons, was taken off a Kingfisher Airlines flight at the Mumbai airport. The staff said she could not fly as she was blind. "I had flown the same airlines from Ahmedabad to Mumbai. Then why didn’t they let me take a connecting flight to Goa?” she asks. “The government must act to ensure that blind travellers are treated with dignity,” says Mansuri’s husband Sameer, who is also blind and claims to have faced a similar predicament earlier.
The ministry of Civil Aviation remained unavailable for comment 

Kingfisher Airlines discriminates against Lady Passenger with Visual Disability

Dear Friends,

If what we hear from the Mid Day coverage is true, this is yet another gruesome incident of discrimination & the inhuman, cruel and indecent behaviour of the Airlines crew (Kingfisher Airlines this time)  with a lady passenger with visual impairment and her two young children. Such incidents only go on to prove that Kingfisher doesn't spend much on the mandatory disability equality training of their staff and each time Mr. Vijay Mallya has to issue a public apology!  But is that the answer? Will a public apology undo the shock, torture and inhuman treatment meted out to a lady passenger with disability?

The Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) on Carriage of Persons with Disabilities and Persons with Reduced mobility amply clarifies to all airlines in section 4.4 to conduct disability awareness training for all crew member before posting them and then a refresher course every three years. The extract of section 4.4 is as below:

"4.4         All airlines and airport management shall run program for their staff engaged in passenger handling e.g. cabin crew / commercial staff including floor walkers and counter staff etc. for sensitization and developing awareness for assisting passengers with disabilities. The training program shall be conducted at the time of initial training and a refresher shall be conducted every 3 years on the subject. Only such persons who have current course shall be assigned to handling disabled persons. The training program should interalia, include assisting disabled persons in filling up travel documents as may be required while providing assistance in flight."

This is mockery of their own CAR referred above as well as the Article 14 Part III of Constitution of India that ensures equality and not to forget the Persons with disabilities (Equal Opportunity,  Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995 read with UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities to which India is a signatory. 

This is a worst example of how erratic &  deficient the services are when it comes to persons with disabilities. The Kingfisher website in their section on Special Needs Passengers, continue to insist on filling up MEDIF form and also insist for medical certificate from the Visually impaired or hearing impaired guests against all settled norms of Civil Aviation Requirement. The instruction on the website says: 

"We wish to make your travel experience as comfortable as possible. And we have special facilities for our guests with special needs. 

Visually impaired or hearing impaired guests: If you require meet-and-assist service, or if you need to be guided to or from the aircraft, please notify the booking agent and complete a MEDIF form or provide a medical certificate.

If there is any other special need with which you require assistance, please don’t hesitate to ask when you book your flight with Kingfisher Airlines. We will do everything we can to accommodate your needs"

Whereas, the CAR categorically mandates in section 5.1 

 "No Medical clearance or special forms shall be insisted from persons with disabilities or persons with reduced mobility who only require special assistance at the airport for assistance in embarking/ disembarking and a reasonable accommodation in flight, who otherwise do not require any additional assistance."

This incident has shocked the disability sector and this humiliation is shared by all of us. We treat this as a matter of grave concern and strongly condemn all such practices which exclude persons with disabilities or violates their equal rights at the whims and fancies of untrained ground staff. The senior management can no more escape with public apologies. Therefore, an immediate and stern action against the culprits is the need of the hour besides heavy penalties on the Airlife for this serious lapse to set a precedent. 

regards

Subhash Chandra Vashishth, 

Advocate Disability Rights, India

Here is the story covered by Mid Day

Click to read from Source: Mid Day

Kingfisher crew offloads blind woman with kids

By: Vedika Chaubey Date:  2011-05-21 Place: Mumbai

Airline makes them disembark from flight, leaves them unattended for nearly an hour and a half as aircraft takes off without them

A private airline made a blind woman and her two children disembark from her connecting flight to Goa and left them unattended for nearly an hour and a half while the plane took off without them.

Adding insult to injury, the airline's staff allegedly told the woman that she could not travel with two kids because she was blind.

Shabnam Mansuri (35) says the experience has made her realise the fallacy of thinking that she can be treated like everyone else despite her handicap.

On May 10, Mansuri was travelling with her sons Lukman (7) and 18-month-old Luftaan from Ahmedabad to Goa via Mumbai to meet her husband. Her tickets had been booked with Kingfisher Airlines.

"I boarded the Kingfisher flight from Ahmedabad and reached Mumbai, from where I was supposed to take a connecting flight to Goa. I had barely taken a seat in the connecting flight around 12.30 pm when a crew member came and asked me to follow him. He also asked me to take my cabin baggage and kids with me. Initially, I thought that he must be changing my seat, but realised something was amiss when he took me down some stairs," said Mansuri.

"I asked him why he was making me get off the plane but he refused to answer. When my kids and I got off, they closed the aircraft's doors and took off, leaving us standing there. One attendant told me later that I cannot travel with two kids as I am blind. I was shocked," she added.

She kept telling the attendant that she had two young kids and needed to meet her husband in Goa, but to no avail. Finally, close to 2 pm, a staff member came and told her that they would arrange for her to board a 4.40 pm flight to Goa.

"I did not want to bank on them anymore. I called my husband and he arranged for us to board another airline's 3.10 pm flight. My question is, how can they let me travel from Ahmedabad to Mumbai without any trouble and then say I cannot travel with two kids from Mumbai to Goa? I was travelling on the same airline in both cases," said Mansuri.

She said the experience was one of the worst she's had in her life. "I am blind but that doesn't mean they have the right to discriminate against me. I had paid the full fare and if they had some problems, they should have informed me before I boarded. My elder son is so traumatised by the incident, he says he does not want to fly anymore."

Husband reacts

Mansuri's husband, Samir, who is the Chairman of Blinds Dream, an NGO, wrote a letter to the airline to complain about the treatment meted out to her.

A portion of the letter states, "Kingfisher officials told my wife that if she thought they were cruel, she shouldn't travel with them anymore."

"What the Kingfisher staff did to my wife is shameful. They had done something similar with me in 2005 (see box) and I will not let them get away this time. They have replied to my letter but that is not enough. I will take this issue to the consumer court and will go to the Supreme Court if need be. This is an insult to me and my family and I will not tolerate it under any circumstances," said Samir.

He alleged that he had come to know that his wife was made to disembark because of a VIP booking at the last moment, which led to the flight being overbooked. "If their company cannot handle blind people, they should declare that visually challenged people are not allowed to fly Kingfisher," he added.

The Other Side

When MiD DAY contacted Kingfisher Airlines, they said they regretted the incident. Prakash Mirpuri, vice-president, corporate communications, Kingfisher Airlines Limited, said, "We are investigating the matter. In the meantime, we would like to convey our deep regret for the inconvenience that may have been caused inadvertently to our valued guests."

Earlier too

Dr Samir Mansuri, Shabnam's husband and a celebrity doctor who is also blind, had allegedly been insulted by Kingfisher Airlines in 2005 as well. According to Samir, he was travelling from Mumbai to Ahmedabad that year.

"I was first in the queue to board the flight, but I was made to wait till all the other passengers boarded. When I went inside, they forced me to visit a washroom outside the aircraft even when I did not want to go. They said they were doing that so I would't have to visit the airplane's loo when we were airborne. The crew told me that they could not allow me to use the aircraft's washroom as I am blind and there were female crew members on board," said Samir.

"I felt insulted and raised the issue in the media. Vijay Mallya then issued an apology for the indecent behaviour on the airline's part," he added.