A mother of two wheelchair users has hit out at an airline after they failed to provide her son with an aisle wheelchair and she was forced to drag him down the aisle to the bathroom on a recent flight.
Heike Fabig is demanding change and rightly so.
She is demanding answers and a resolution so no other family goes through what hers did.
A family holiday to Fiji was always going to take lots of planning for a family with two children using wheelchairs, but Heike Fabig and her husband were prepared they made sure that Virgin Australia were aware of their needs.
The trip, last September was meant to be as she writes on her blog, Rollercoaster Parenting a “much needed holiday to Fiji”.
What took place left her reeling and she is now demanding that all airlines have an aisle wheelchair on board every flight.
Heike’s 14-year old son, Kai suffers from spastic paraplegia and the rare disorder Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy.
On her blog she describes him as “the alphabet kid (HSP, ASD, OCD, BD, Anxiety and a very beautiful soul)”
It’s a distressing tale she tells of what occurred on board that flight last September. She wrote on her blog that they were assured they would be able to take the wheelchairs to the door of the plane and that, yes, there would be an aisle chair available.
Top Comments
I don't know what's more depressing: this sad story of an airline not helping those disabled travel, or the many comments that seem to imply that it's okay that Virgin hasn't responded, won't provide chairs, and don't care. I take it those many comments are posted by those who are blessed to be able bodied and don't have any dependents who are disabled. Don't you think life is hard enough without Airlines - who knew exactly the situation on booking - simply not caring?
I can absolutely empathise with the situation and can appreciate how frustrated this mother is, but her letter is overly emotional and she has no right to know the details of what is discussed in meetings and who has attended them. It is unclear whether the advance notice she gave was to the airline or to a travel agent who earns such a small amount of commission on domestic travel fares that they probably didn't follow up with the airline or assumed the chairs would be on board. We also need to remember that while Qantas has the chairs it is likely that if Virgin wanted to put them on every flight they would need to find a way to source them, source whatever equipment is needed to safely secure them, and then have all of this approved by the relevant stakeholders. And clearly they can't just pop down to Bunnings and get 200 new aisle wheelchairs. These things no doubt take time and as such there won't be immediate responses. I read the other day that Virgin's last red plane only just got painted with the new colours. That's taken 4 years! Do you think they wanted red planes flying around confusing their brand? Things are going to take time.
And another thing: "It just beggars belief, don't these people have children"
a) No, the 22 year old flight attendant probably doesnt have children.
b) You've seen the aircraft. You know what the space restrictions are. If there was no chair available, what did you expect the flight attendant to say? "OK, just change him in the overhear locker?" Give the flight attendant a break.
Yes, it was embarrassing. Yes, I feel for the family but also, yes, I imagine there are people at Virgin working on a solution.