A disabled woman who had to drag herself to the toilet on a commercial jet says she is 'astounded' by the response from the airline.
Last month Jennie Berry went viral after she boarded an AlbaStar aircraft and then found herself with no aisle chair to get her to the toilet.
She was filmed dragging herself down the plane's aisle, and claimed one of the air stewardesses suggested she should have worn a nappy onboard.
Amid the fallout from the incident, Albastar released a statement saying that the company's CEO had called Jennie to "personally apologise" and explain that storage of aisle chairs can be an issue on "our many short haul aircrafts in Europe".
"Hardly any short haul aircraft in Europe carry these aisle chairs, including some very well-known UK airlines," the spokesperson claimed.
They then turned the finger of blame onto Jennie's husband.
“As it is against regulations for cabin crew to lift passengers in flight, the key point here is to ask why her partner did not help her get to the toilet rather than spending his time filming," the spokesperson said.
In an interview with Good Morning Britain on Friday, Jennie said the CEO did not show her any empathy towards the situation.
“Apart from saying how devastated they were as a company, as opposed to how I felt… I think devastated because of the reaction," she told hosts Ben Shephard and Kate Garraway.
“Their current policy is that my partner should’ve dragged me from behind with my feet trailing or carried me - never mind I’m six foot tall, I can’t be carried in that narrow gap…
"That would probably be more painful for that to have to happen, take longer, cause more of a scene.”
Ben asked: “And that would be more dignified? It seems extraordinary that that would be their key points.”
To which Jennie responded: “There’s a lot to digest there, a lot of key points there where it’s just astounding that that’s the response we’re given here, as opposed to just simply providing access.”
Jennie also pushed back on Albastar's suggestion that the aircraft was too small to carry an aisle chair.
She said: “It’s a Boeing 737, which most airlines also use. And most airlines - including low cost, low budget airlines such as TUI, EasyJet, Ryanair - all of these have the aisle chair on board and they make the space for it to be there.
"But this company is just outright saying no, despite having the exact same plane. I’m a disabled traveller who travels a lot. Everything that I do in life is planned in advance.
"It’s frustrating that they’re kind of turning it around as if it’s my fault, when in actual fact their policy states, they do not have an aisle chair onboard and they don’t have the provisions to have an aisle chair onboard."
During the flight Jennie claimed one of the air stewardesses suggested she should have worn a nappy on board .
“Again, another astounding comment to make, which is just absurd," she continued.
"I don’t need to wear a nappy and to just have that kind of response as opposed to - you know, I wasn’t asking anyone to carry me, I don’t expect to be carried. I know that that isn’t in their remit to do so.
“I was just expecting a bit of empathy, help clearing the aisle and just problem solving in a scenario where we’re in the middle of the air, there’s no aisle chair onboard, what do we do know?
"And there was none of it. I think they were infuriated because I was stopping their drinks trolley.”
Jennie has said she won't be travelling on AlbaStar airlines again.
Writing about the ordeal on Instagram, she said: "Life as a disabled person can sometimes be downright degrading and embarrassing, and unfortunately, this was one of them times.
"To be outright told to my face that I should wear a nappy when I don't need to and that they are happy with that policy made me feel humiliated."
The issues disabled people can have at airports has been highlighted by a string of high profile incidents this summer.
In July the BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardener spoke out on social media after he was left stranded on a plane at Gatwick airport.
The problems appeared to have been aggravated and made more regular by a lack of staff at certain airports after air travel rebounded following the coronavirus lockdowns.
Good Morning Britain is on every weekday from 6am on ITV and ITV Hub.
