Samanta Bullock says British Airways denied her boarding on a New York – London flight because she was in a wheelchair traveling alone, and they said that crew could not help her get to the lavatory or evacuate her in an emergency. After hours of discussion, she says she was moved to an American Airlines flight without her permission, and American also asked whether she could get to the toilet on her own.
- Flight attendants don’t have to provide intimate care in the lavatory.
- But it appears here that British Airways treated cabin assistance they are required to provide — moving a disabled passenger via aisle chair to and from the lavatory — as if it were prohibited personal care. BA itself acknowledges the obligation for crew to help passengers “move between your seat and the toilets,” but not to provide assistance in the lavatory or lift and transfer passengers who cannot do so themselves.
- The passenger says she did not ask for lavatory-style assistance, only to push her in an aisle chair from her seat to the bathroom.
The passenger says she was in New York for a fashion show her firm was running and for a UN conference on disability rights. After “hours of discussions,” she says she was moved to an American Airlines flight, and that while they asked her a similar lavatory question she was able to travel with them while she’d been denied travel on BA, and that she recorded everything.
She says she had pre-booked assistance, was on time, had all of her documents and regularly flies British Airways including transatlantic and that she has flown independently for more than 30 years.
Here’s what to know about the situation.
- An airline can ask a passenger whether they can transfer themselves from their seat to an aisle chair without crew lifting them. They can ask whether the passenger needs a companion for personal care, lifting, communication, or safety tasks.
- An airline cannot exclude a passenger traveling in a wheelcahir alone (blanket rule) and must make an individualized assessement.
- The Air Carrier Access Act applies here, as well as U.K. law for the British airline. BA must provide assistance moving to and from the lavatory if needed as long as it doesn’t involve lifting or carrying the passenger.
- Bullock feels it’s not fair to effectively require her to travel with an assistant, since that doubles her cost. That’s actually not true when traveling in or departing from the United States! In the limited cases where an airline can require an assistant for travel (such as related to potential evacuation), and where the passenger believes the assistant is not necessary, then the airline cannot charge for the assistant’s transportation.
Samanta Bullock may have been one of the least convenient disabled passengers for British Airways to push off. Her LinkedIn describes her as CEO of an inclusion firm and one of the “Power 100 Most Influential Disabled People in the UK.” She is a former Brazilian wheelchair tennis athlete and ParaPanAm silver medalist, an adaptive-fashion figure, model, and consultant. She became a wheelchair user after a gunshot accident at age 14. She wasn’t going to go silently into that good night.
And here it looks like BA in New York handled this poorly and as an outlier. BA deals with wheelchair passengers every day. The lavatory question is odd, because some passengers use catheters or continence clothing. She passenger had all of her paperwork and booked assistance. It appears that hte airline didn’t actually determine that she could not self-transfer to and from an aisle chair.
What the passenger could have done here is asked for the airline’s Complaints Resolution Official, which they’re required to make available. They can overrule other personnel at the airline except for a pilot’s safety assessment.
I’ve never flown BA, but it sure seems like they are bargain basement at best.
Flight attendants are not medically trained to deal with someone that is disabled. Yes, it is very sad about her situation but ultimately the airline needs to make a decision on whether the crew can handle the special needs of a passenger.
The last two times I flew BA from Heathrow to New York, we were bussed to an out lying stand, and I had to carry my somewhat heavy carryon bag up the steps to the plane. In both instances, BA did not announce what was about to occur; i.e. tht we would not be able to wheel our bags down the bridge and on to the plane, and nor did they ask if anyone needed assitance. I complained to their Customer Care and finally received an acknowledgement that they should, at the very least, make an announcement.
@George Nathan Romey — Ugh, you really cannot help but shill for large corporations… not-so-subtly usually attacking both workers and consumers. You should know that disabled passengers (with wheelchairs) travel all the time; this seems more like a BA-issue, not an all-airlines issue.
Not sure what the airlines are supposed to do here.
If OP can’t go to the bathroom without assistance, then it is on OP to hire a caretaker.
@Kevin — Gary mapped it out fairly clearly above, but I’ll repeat what he said: hiring a caretaker to join her on the flight “doubles her cost”…
She has EC 261 to help. Does a DOT complaint help here?
@Beachfan — Both UK 261 and the DOT apply here. Whether a complaint actually “helps” is usually an “it depends.” Speaking of Depends… would those have helped? *facepalm*
If she was flying an Asian carrier they would have not offloaded her. The service standards are massively different that European carriers.
Traveling is a privilege, not a right, she misunderstood that part.
Flight attendant working for an airline, not a nursing home.
If she needs to pay for a caretaker, she needs to pay, even it’s doubling her privileged traveling expenses. Not mentioning it’s also providing another job opportunity for healthcare professionals.
@Creditian — Accommodations for the are not a mere ‘privilege.’ She paid for her own ticket, so it’s not like she’s trying to scam the airline and fly for free… right?
Gary, excellent article. I’m flying BA for the first time, since needing wheelchair assistance. Fortunately, I can walk short distances within the plane. Still, reading this, I’ll be curious (and wary) of how the experience will go.
This kind of reminds me of the Ralph Nader bumping incident about 60 years ago. which changed air travel forever and in the long run probably was the costliest corporate mistake in American history
Getting what you paid for is not a privilege although that certainly seems to be the trend.