Thread by @CarrieALightley

Today’s experience of airport special assistance, flying with @easyJet from @LPL_Airport. A (likely rather long) thread.

Arrived at @OmniServLtd desk at requested time. Was told possible gate but to keep an eye on it, changeable. Made a point of asking what time I should be at gate. Told just when it opens, 30 mins before departure

Did all the usual airport shiz. Headed to gate at requested time, via toilet because

1. Plane toilets aren’t accessible
2. I’d had a prosecco with breakfast. Airport rules, right?! 🤷🏼‍♀️

Huge queue at gate. No sign of assistance. Plane already boarding. Joined queue of parents with buggies. Got to front and was told ‘no, you don’t go this way, you have to wait for assistance staff over there’. Whole plane boards.

Assistance arrives & tells me they will have to get the ambulift back from another stand, as I wasn’t at the gate when they boarded the other PRMs earlier. Repeat that I was, where I was told to be, when I was told to be there.

Am pushed on to Ambulift. Staff member asks me if I can stand, or if I need to take my chair to the plane door. Tell her I need the chair. She rolls her eyes at me and shouts, ‘YOU NEED TO BE AT THE GATE EARLIER NEXT TIME!!’

I explain to her that I was, where and when I was told to be, and that it isn’t my fault. She says ‘well it’s not my fault either’. Wheels me on to the plane on the aisle chair. Pushes my feet on to the foot plate, without asking me if this is ok.

I’m dragged backwards to row 5 in the aisle chair, on a plane full of passengers, whilst in tears. My husband explains to the cabin crew what’s wrong, and the assistance staff say he’s ‘having a go’. No one checks if I’m ok, I’m left in my seat without a word.

I was made to feel like the problem. Not the poor communication, not the inaccessible infrastructure, not the lack of signage, not the system that clearly doesn’t work, but me. It’s absolutely soul destroying.

Those who are disabled and work in accessibility will understand - we know that we need to use our voices and experiences to make the world more accessible. But sometimes we just need a day off.

A break from the campaigning, the complaining, the activism. Just to be treated like any other customer. My flight today was for a holiday. A brief break from fighting to make accessible travel better. And still I’m facing terrible service that makes me feel like I’m less than

To some this experience may seem trivial. I made my flight, got to my destination and my wheelchair is intact. My mental health however, is deeply affected. Why isn’t my money as good as any other customers’?

@ReducedMobility @AnnieBtransport appreciate your thoughts, and those of any others working in accessible aviation (please tag)

@easyJet