Flyers with special needs share ordeal

Airlines say they ensure enough wheelchairs; passengers point to lack of sensitivity

- ANUSHKA BHARDWAJ & DEEPAK PATEL

On February 12, an 80-year-old man who had flown into Mumbai airport collapsed after walking 1.5 km from the aircraft to the immigration counter. He had pre-booked a wheelchair with the airline but wasn't given one. He died soon after. On Thursday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) fined the airline, Air India, 30 lakh.

This wasn't an isolated incident of an airline or airport authority mismanaging a case where an individual needed special attention.

On January 31, a flyer disabled by birth was asked to stand up and walk two steps during the security check-in process at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata. The woman, Arushi Singh, recounted her ordeal on X: "She said sirf 2-minute khade hojao (just stand for two minutes). I explained again that I have a disability by birth."

Another flyer, Virali Modi, who is paralysed waist down since 2006, narrated her trauma during a December 5 flight from New Delhi to Mumbai. Through a post on X, she said she had to wait for 40 minutes to deplane after everybody had exited the flight. "The cabin crew were chatting to the captain or someone in a similar uniform. The cleaning crew had come on board and I had to inform them. That's when they rushed to arrange an aisle wheelchair," Modi wrote.