Air Travel Discriminations Continued

From the conclusion of a successful event, DPIAP staff unfortunately had a negative experience in flying back to Bangkok with AirAsia. Our team comprising of 13 persons including 6 wheelchair users were initially denied boarding on the basis that AirAsia only allows 4 wheelchair users per flight. In fact less than a week prior, the same 6 wheelchair users boarded an AirAsia aircraft from Bangkok to Jakarta with no issues, as the AirAsia website in Thailand allows up to 8 persons with reduced mobility to travel on one aircraft.(Please view attachment) Our team was eventually allowed to board the plane an hour after the aircraft should have departed, when a chief pilot made the decision to allow us on board.

Please

We are extremely disappointed with this discriminative experience. Firstly, that AirAsia places limitations on the numbers of persons with reduced mobility able to travel. This policy infringes on their rights with the impact of making one feel like an inferior or unwanted passenger.

Secondly, that AirAsia appears to lack consistency in their travel policy, meaning that good customer service or how many persons with reduced mobility can fly seems to depend on the point of embarkation.

A complaint letter has been written to AirAsia and we await a response from them regarding this matter.

Well friends, that’s all from DPIAP this week.

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