Journalist fed up with airport's treatment of passengers with disabilities
I am so utterly sick of @HeathrowAirport ground staff 'losing' my wheelchair. Over 70 mins after landing back from Ethiopia I'm still stuck on an empty plane while they try to find it Just when is UK's premier airport going to stop treating disabled passengers this way?pic.twitter.com/f84wXCgXKB
Odd that I can travel round the Middle East and elsewhere without a hitch. Yet time and again @HeathrowAirport loses my wheelchair on arrival. Now been on an empty plane 1.5 hours after landing. Believe me, I'm as bored of writing this as you are of reading it.pic.twitter.com/ZKQLFmGOIF
Finally off after 100 minutes
Not. Good. Enough. You must be fuming Frank. Hope they sort it soon.
Cheers Sara. Finally got off the plane exactly 100 mins after landing. I've had better treatment in Djibouti.
That sounds really shit. Genuine question - what is the procedure for wheelchairs on flights? Do they have to be stored in the hold? Is it the airport's fault or the airline or both?
It's up to the cabin crew if they can find space to put wchair in cabin - BA always let me do this on long haul. O'wise it goes in hold with instructions to bring it up to door on arrival. UK ground staff often ignore this.
A young man in my village had his wheelchair destroyed when his costly chair, which provided for his independence & was specially tailored, was placed atop a trolley with no restraint - from which it fell & was smashed. C’mon airlines - wake up!
I'll suggest a rule. Disabled passengers looked after first and no-one else can get off until they're on their way.
That’s just not acceptable, at a modern airport like @HeathrowAirport . I sat on a train, next to a blind man last week. He was promised to be met by GWR staff as he changed trains at Reading. That didn’t happen. You should make a documentary on this, Frank!
Hi Frank, we are really sorry to hear that. Are you able to DM us with further information?
Apology not accepted. You do this nearly every time. You 'create a case number' then it happens again the next time. This casual disregard for disabled passengers is a disgrace to British airports. LHR2 flight ET700 from Addis Ababa.