A disabled woman ended up crawling off a plane after the airline she flew with failed to provide an aisle wheelchair on landing.
Natalie Curtis had used an aisle wheelchair to get to her seat when she boarded a Jetstar flight in Townsville, Australia but when she landed in Bangkok, Thailand, there was none available.
She decided the only way she could get off the plane was to crawl done the aisle - an experience she described as "extremely humiliating".
She added: “They all just sat around for a while and the option that was left was for me to get on the floor and crawl.”
Jetstar have since said a "miscommunication" meant there was no aisle wheelchair ready and staff had been told it would take at least 40 minutes before one could be made available.
Natalie, whose friend and fellow passenger Natasha Elford filmed the incident, told Sunrise she was asked to pay for a wheelchair on arrival and refused, choosing to crawl off instead.
Jetstar denies this, however, and said it never charges for wheelchairs. Natalie admitted to Sunrise there were some language barriers between her and staff.
But the airline has "unreservedly" apologised to Natalie - who lives in Queensland, Australia - for not having an aisle wheelchair available and has refunded her airfare and offered additional compensation.
She has, however, vowed to never fly with Jetstar again, adding: "It was extremely humiliating so I definitely don’t want anyone else to go through what I had to go through."
Natasha said she wanted to carry Natalie off the plane but could not, due to a knee injury.
She added: “I just felt really sorry for Natalie... I just felt really hopeless and I’m like, ‘I just can’t believe this is really happening’.”
She said staff did offer to carry Natalie but Natalie felt there was too high a risk that they could drop her.
It is understood that Natalie booked through a third party booking agent which did not allow her to add that she was a wheelchair user.
She made staff aware when she started her journey and a message should have been relayed to staff at Bangkok airport but it appears it wasn't.
Jetstar staff tried to bring Natalie's wheelchair onboard but it was too wide to fit down the aisle.
In a statement, a Jetstar spokesperson said: "We unreservedly apologise to Ms. Curtis for her recent experience while travelling with us.
"We are committed to providing a safe and comfortable travel experience for all our customers, including those requiring specific assistance.
"Regrettably, this was not the case for Ms Curtis following a miscommunication that resulted in the delay of an aisle chair being made available at the gate on arrival and we are looking into what happened as a matter of urgency.
"At no point was an aisle chair withheld due to a request for payment.
"Our customer team has contacted Ms. Curtis to better understand her experience and to offer her a refund, as well as additional compensation."
