A holidaymaker says that she was stopped from flying home after TUI staff told her she'd been blacklisted because of a minor toilet row. Victoria Devorie, 44, was checking in for her journey home from Jamaica when she discovered staff placed her on a banned list following her outbound flight.
The woman, who has autism, says that she had unintentionally stepped a foot inside the plane's kitchen galley - where passengers aren't allowed - to make way for someone whilst waiting for the toilet. Ms Devorie then says she was "reprimanded like a child" as cabin crew made an announcement before take off on the flight from Gatwick to Montego Bay that the area was off limits to passengers.
Victoria, from Liverpool, said the situation triggered her "fight, flight or freeze" as her neurodivergence makes her respond differently to certain scenarios. She told ECHO: "I can remember it verbatim. I stepped a foot into the galley and this crew member reprimanded me like a child.
"When you have autism, certain situations can trigger you. You can go into fight, flight or freeze. Initially I froze and I apologised to him and I said ‘I am really sorry, I know the rules, I am just getting out the way of a passenger. You don’t need to talk to me in the way you are talking to me. You’re being really combative.'"
Victoria says that she was left upset and confused by the incident and subsequently exited the wrong way, claiming she was then "yelled at" by the flight attendant. She added: “I did move forward and I said ‘can I take your name?’ and initially he would not give me his name and I moved forward and he said ‘you’re still in the galley’ and I said ‘I want your name’. And I said ‘this is not OK for you to talk to me like that’.
“I was trying to make him understand I wasn’t doing it on purpose and I said I was sorry. I said ‘I work in service’ and he said ‘oh right so what, if somebody stepped into your kitchen you wouldn’t be annoyed?’
“I said to him ‘if it was an accident I’d ask them to leave and I would understand it’. I told him he was talking to me in a really misogynistic way and it was not acceptable. The air steward who had been serving us put his arm on my arm and said ‘go and sit down’.
"So I exited the other way and he screamed at me and said ‘you’re still doing it' [going into the galley] because I just got really discombobulated. So yes, I exited the other way rather than going back across and all the way round. And then I just got really upset.”
She added: "The situation left me feeling incredibly upset and triggered, especially considering that TUI was aware of my autism before the flight."
Victoria claims throughout her communication with the airline, and when she booked her holiday, she made them aware she was autistic.
A spokesperson for TUI said Ms Devorie did not discuss the fact she had autism with the TUI customer service team at any point during the booking process or prior to departure. The spokesperson added: "We have a team on hand to work with customers who may require additional support during their holiday."
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