Para-athlete: Spicejet asked me to crawl

TIRUPATI: India’s first wheelchair-bound tennis player Madhu Bagri was refused a change of seat to accommodate her wheelchair on board a SpiceJet flight at Tirupati airport on Monday. She has recorded a video of the incident and posted it on social media.

She was given a seat in the third row, which she could not access because the passage was very narrow for her wheelchair. “I asked for a change of seat which the crew refused. They asked me to crawl or stand, whatever, to get to the allotted seat,” Ms Madhu alleged.

“I told them that I had a connecting flight to Ahmedabad from Hyde-rabad. But they dumped me in the arrival lounge along with my baggage,” she said. 

Was helped by CISF men: Madhu
Madhu has made an official complaint to the airport authorities. SpiceJet denied that its crew ill-treated the para-athlete and said that the report was baseless.

In an official note, the airline said Madhu was provided assistance when she arrived at the airport. 

“The passenger insisted on having the front row seat. All front row seats in Q400 Bombardier aircraft are emergency exit rows and hence passengers with any kind of disability are not allowed to sit on these seats as per DGCA (Director General of Civil Aviation) rules,” it said.

“Even after a lot of explaining the passenger argued and kept insisting on the front row seat. Since the flight was getting delayed, a collective decision was taken to offload the passenger. At no point was she manhandled or mistreated and SpiceJet women staff assisted her out,” it said.

“The passenger was given a choice to travel by SpiceJet’s Boeing flight, which is scheduled to depart at 4.30 pm and she was informed that the first-row seat would be reserved for her. The passenger continued to use offensive language.”

Speaking to this newspaper, Madhu, who had come for a private programme, said, “I had to catch a flight for Ahmedabad from Hyderabad at 2.30 pm and they offered me a flight at 4.30 pm from Tirupati. Of what use is that?”

She denied using offensive language. “They lifted me along with the wheelchair and my head was touching the roof of the aircraft,” she said.

She added, “They handed me to porters who did not know English or Hindi. It was CISF who helped me with the luggage. The airline crew behaved with no mercy. They are not treating people in wheelchairs as humans.” She said it was difficult to get flight tickets during the long weekend.