Mumbai: Vietjet Air refuses to fly Mr. Arvind Prabhoo, a wheelchair user and Chief of Pickleball Association, saying 'no policy'

Defaulting Airline: Vietjet (Vietnamese airlines)

Name: Mr. Arvind Prabhoo, Chairperson of the All India Pickleball Association

Date: 17 Sep 2022 (Saturday)

At Airport: Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai

Travelling between: Mumbai to Bali

Complaint:  Airline refused to fly Mr. Arvind Prabhoo on the ground of  "not having a policy for wheelchair-bound passengers" and no aisle chair (a narrow wheelchair used to transport immobile passengers from their own wheelchair to a seat during boarding and deplaning) in contravention of the DGCA's CAR on carriage by air of persons with disabilities.

Case Brief:

MUMBAI: Wheelchair-bound Arvind Prabhoo, chairperson of the All India Pickleball Association, was unable to accompany the 16 players representing India at the 2022 World Pickleball Championship between September 20 and 24 in Bali as he was not allowed to board a Vietjet flight from Mumbai on Saturday night. Prabhoo - a quadriplegic after a car accident 35 years ago left him paralyzed from the neck down - alleges that this was the first time he was denied a boarding pass on grounds of the airline "not having a policy for wheelchair-bound passengers" and no aisle chair (a narrow wheelchair used to transport immobile passengers from their own wheelchair to a seat during boarding and deplaning).

"Despite telling them that I was ready to pay for an aisle chair from another airline or my four personal attendants could lift me to the seat, the airline turned down both my requests saying they were unprepared to handle me in case of an emergency," he said.

Prabhoo, who is also president of Mumbai Suburban Table Tennis Association, said he had never faced such a situation on account of his disability in decades of travelling around the world as a sports administrator. "I had registered myself as a disabled passenger and requested wheelchair assistance while booking my flight. Why do they have the option when they don't have the facilities and why was I not informed at the time of booking," asked Prabhoo, who wrote to the ministry of civil aviation on Monday describing his plight.

To add to his ordeal, Prabhoo, the son of former mayor Ramesh Prabhoo, was asked to write to the airline when he sought a refund and was also refused a refund for his attendants. "They said that since my attendants were allowed to board, they would not be granted a refund...Why would my attendants travel when I wasn't being allowed to?"

For a fledgling sport just taking off in India with Mumbai set to host the fifth edition of the international pickleball tournament, the Bainbridge Cup, in November, Prabhoo, described his experience a "setback". "I had meetings planned with heads of pickleball associations from other nations on how we could take the game forward. Also, this is embarrassing for a physically disabled traveller in the 21st century when we have so many modern facilities."

Prabhoo's predicament comes at a time when the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) amended regulations to improve accessibility of boarding and flying for the disabled.

In July, the DGCA issued accessibility rules for disabled flyers saying that airlines should not refuse boarding to any person because of disability or reduced mobility.

Vietjet India, a Vietnames Airlines had anounced on 18 July 2022 about its 11 additional direct routes flight services to key Indian cities from September 2022,  did not reply to newsagency's messages for comment.

Source: Times of India, Mumbai