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July 31, 2006
Blind, disabled passengers can't fly alone on Thai AirAsia
The following information was downloaded from the mailing list of "Disability and Development" with a cooperation of the publisher, Mr. Soya Mori.
Blind, disabled passengers can't fly alone on Thai AirAsia
Bangkok, July. 19 (AP): Southeast Asia's largest low-cost carrier AirAsia will not allow blind, deaf and other disabled passengers to travel alone on flights in Thailand because the airline does not have the ground staff to help them, officials said Wednesday.
Thai AirAsia's chief executive officer, Tassapon Bijleveld, defended the company against accusations that the policy was discriminatory, saying that as a budget carrier it did not have enough staff to help the disabled.
The comments came after Thailand's Association for the Blind accused AirAsia of discrimination after the carrier refused to allow a blind American traveler aboard a flight Saturday.
The passenger, Frederic Schroeder, a former U.S. official under the Clinton administration, had booked a flight from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia but was told at the check-in counter he could not board because he was traveling alone, said Monthien Bunton, head of the association.
``This is a very basic service that an airline has to provide for blind passengers,'' Monthien said. ``This is discrimination, and it should not have happened.''
Monthien said the association had sent a letter of complaint to Thai AirAsia and was waiting for a reply.
Tassapon said the airline wished to convey an apology to Schroeder for the inconvenience he experienced but defended the ground staff that turned him away.
``Thai AirAsia has no discriminatory policies,'' Tassapon said in a telephone interview. ``But we are not a full-service airline and cannot take blind, deaf and other disabled passengers onto our flights if they are unaccompanied.''
AirAsia, which is the region's biggest low cost carrier in terms of fleet size and the only publicly listed one, is based in Malaysia and has subsidiaries in Thailand and Indonesia. The carrier now serves routes between Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines and Macau.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200607191553.htm
Related Blog→Dear All -Takako Wayama (JSRPD) - December 15, 2005
Posted by jicafriends at July 31, 2006 03:34 PM
Comments
I had the same experience when i booked with Tiger Airways for my flight to Singapore from the Philippines.
I am a wheelchair bound disable and was refused by the ground staff to take my plane, even I had a personal assistance with my cousin with me. what the ground staff told me they would carry only able body passenger since, they are a low cost airline.
although, they offer full refund but my other expenses and time were all wasted.
Especially when their website do not put their conditions outright in the first page rather the conditions that they don't carry disabled was already in the later part of the agreement. This can be misleading for their passenger. and very discriminatory as well.
Posted by: Ma. Rowena L. Urot at August 11, 2006 05:33 PM
as a disable myself i took a flight by airasia to langkawavi we were IN THE DIFFICIULT WALKING DISABLLITY and had problem to go up the steps and no one to helps. As a low cost airways you mean that you dont serve the DISABLE come od TONY F where is your social oblaction to the less forunate come air asia GOD IS ALWAYS WITH PEOPLE LIKE US {LESS FOURNATE
Posted by: stanislaus at August 21, 2006 04:13 PM
Actually, I think it's more like you guys are forunate. Why would you want to fly these low cost airlines anyway? They are crap, you should just pay a little more and enjoy the proper comfort and services that you deserve!
:)
Posted by: Johnson at September 27, 2008 12:28 PM