AIBU? Lack of disability training on flight

[EmmaLou3000]

Sorry for the long post. We've just returned from our first holiday to Turkey. My daughter is disabled so required the harness on board the plane as she can not sit unaided. She's 3.
I'm really appalled at the service we recieved. The staff were no way near adequately trained on disabilities and disabled equipment, I filled out the special assistance form in febuary and requested the harness. We then went in to a thomas cook travel agent to speak about this as we were unsure where we could sit. I also rang special assistance on the 24th may to make sure where we were sat was ok as we were having the harness. I was assured on the phone and in-store that the harness will be on the seat and we would be able to just sit down and strap her in. We arrived at the gate and then boarded when they announced special assistance boarding. We boarded the plane and there was no harness in her seat, our seats had also changed and she had been seated in front of a seat which isn't allowed as she has to be sat with no one behind her, fortunately it was my son who was sat behind so we didn't need to move but he was unable to use his tray which we didn't mind.
When i spoke to the cabin crew and told them she needed a harness, they had no idea I had requested one and told me numerous times "this is why you should request it in advance so we can have it ready" which I found extremely rude as I told her we had requested and been in contact about it more than once. The cabin crew then got the harness out of the packet but didn't know how to attach it to the seat or strap her in and tighten it. One of the stewards even told us that he had never been trained how to use it which i find unacceptable considering it's a piece of safety equipment. By this point everyone else was on the plane and trying to get to their seat which was embarrassing as I had to stand carrying my daughter and was in the way of everyone and everyone was staring which was really uncomfortable, my daughter already gets stared at but this drew lots more attention. It took about 20-30 minutes to finally get my daughter seated, the cabin crew didn't have a clue how to secure my daughter to the seat and I had to work out how to tighten it myself which I didn't feel safe doing if I'm honest. our plane had changed the week before and it was being provided by avion express so I assumed the miscommunication was due to that but on our flight home the exact same thing happened. The cabin crew had no idea we needed a harness and had no idea how to put it on, again everyone was staring and trying to get to their seats and I had to stand carrying my daughter. It took at least 20-25 minutes to get her seated, it was really upsetting and exhausting as she is very heavy to carry. I felt completely embarrassed. The cabin crew were lovely on the flight home and couldn't apologise enough, one stewardess was so lovely and even admitted that she had to go and put spray on afterwards and get changed as she got so hot and sweaty trying to put the harness on and she was panicking as she felt rushed and just wanted to make sure my daughter was safe, she said she felt so embarrassed which was awful as it was not her fault at all. If she had been given the information prior to the flight they could of had enough time to prepare and make sure it was safe. The whole experience completely ruined our flights as I was upset, my daughter was upset, my family travelling with us were upset. We were all just so embarrassed and it's put us off flying in the future incase something like that happens again. It was our first holiday and after hearing reviews from others we just honestly didn't expect such an experience. Having a child who is disabled is extremely hard and we had faith that we would be in good hands. After returning home and looking more into the harness it appears it's a 5 point harness with a crotch strap but no crotch strap was used on my daughter which meant every 15 minutes I had to pull her up as she kept sliding down.

I have put a complaint in to thomas cook as I think it's unacceptable that their staff are not trained on keeping the most vulnerable passe gets safe. It's our first holiday and never complained about anything before so not sure what we are going to get out of it. Am I being completely unreasonable? I know i should of looked into how to use the crelling harness before we flew but it never crossed my mind that they wouldn't know how to use one as theres always one on board and my daughter can not be the first to use one 🤷🏽‍♀️

yanbu. Thomas Cook is a failing airline and in my opinion it is not without reason. Not sure what you can do now.

Completely unacceptable, I'm sorry you and your family have had this awful experience. I would definitely complain. If you don't get any joy from Thomas Cook, I'd get in touch with your MP

I would complain. I’m sorry you ha such a horrible experience. Remember your complaint will hopefully ensure that otherwise do not experience what you did.

That is horrific service. Please do complain.

Awful, you should put in a complaint and keep chasing them up until you get a satisfactory reply.

YANBU and I'm really sorry for this added stress you had. On a recent Ryanair flight a man with what I assume was motor neurone disease was manhandled very badly by stewards attempting to lift him out of his chair and into their one of theirs. This was infront of the whole queue, his wife was understandably livid. It took them about 20 minutes of hundreds of false starts and his wife trying to advise them the best way to do it. I felt so sorry for him, he had no movement at all and he was being lifted and jolted like a sack of potatoes. It must have been very humiliating for him and the stewards themselves must have received no training as they were getting very flustered too.

I hope your complaint might initiate some form of training, it just isn't acceptable that they advertise a service that they are not prepared for. My ds requires wheelchair assistance to/from the plane but can walk up the steps with help. Assistance seems to vary from country to country, in Malaga airport they have one wheelchair and there were 4 people needing it so we had to wait at the bottom of the plane steps for 10 minutes (we were no 2 so number 4 probably waited 30 mins).

To be fair Freudian most airlines say that they won’t help passengers to and from their seat into the onboard wheelchair, I would assume that meant they couldn’t assist passengers out of their own wheelchair either.

To the OP, I’m glad you complained. As the harness was provided by the airline, you weren’t BU to think that they would know how to use it, it’s not like you bought your own car seat and expected the staff to know how to strap her in that.

We’ve had to wait 40 minutes in an empty plane in Manchester because DD’s wheelchair had mistakenly been taken away with the luggage but no one had booked her an airport wheelchair because she was supposed to use her own.

CrohnicallyEarly could you provide a reference for this? Assistance to the seat means helping people out of their wheelchair and onto the narrow one for the aircraft and from that one onto the seat, at least this is what it has been like in my, admittedly limited, experience. Also, my understanding was that responsibility for the assistance rests with the airport not the airline.

Airlines don’t get it do they. Training & assistance really needs improvement. It’s stressful enough traveling with a disabled child. Sorry you had such an awful experience.

If the man with suspected motor neuron disease has no movement and cannot stand they should not be manually lifted by anyone, it's against all manual handling regulations.
With regard to the OP you are not being unreasonable.

Thanks for the replies. Feel abit better now I know I’m not over reacting.
Booboostwo yes any lifting is responsibility of the airport special assistance and not any cabin crew or airline staff. Although it seems even airport staff are incompetent sometimes.

We did request my daughters buggy to be at the plane doors when getting off as she can’t walk and cannot sit in the airport provided wheelchairs as there’s no straps but it was sent to baggage reclaim both ways which wasn’t ideal as at Dalaman I had to get in a wheelchair and hold her while someone pushed us which was abit embarrassing if I’m honest. I carried her at Manchester though in case I seen someone I know but the airport assistance team walked with us the whole way to baggage reclaim and were lovely.

It’s such a shame that still today disabled passengers are still facing challenges and things are still a struggle and it just shouldn’t be the case when there’s enough training and knowledge out there to make the journey as easy as your average passenger. I’ve received an email from TC director saying they are looking into the issues raised and she’ll get back to me within 7 days so fingers crossed they start training their staff better

I'm really sorry that happened to you and your daughter OP. Please complain. Things won't change unless we all keep on at airlines.

Flying as a disabled person is horrendous. TUI won't let you book the medical seats until 2 weeks before then they decide who's disabled 'enough' for them. I've been bumped out of them on return journeys so they can be sold as extra legroom seats. They will argue until they are blue in the face that they don't do this but they do.

We landed in Manchester in the early hours, last September, and waited for the ambulift so I could get off, along with 2 other disabled people but it never came. The captain came out to tell is I told would be 2.5 hours and could we possibly use the stairs. I knew that was coming because the crew were standing looking at us, with their bags, and a full bus was waiting next to us. I was so wobbly going down that I almost fell and the lady co pilot had to tell people to get out of seats on the bus so we could sit down. When we got into the terminal it was 45 minutes before they came with wheelchairs.

This country is supposed to be civilised. We are supposed to know how to treat disabled people with all the mod cons and training but we don't. The best airport assistance I've had has been in Cape Verde and La Palma, which are teeny tiny islands with teeny tiny airports.

I thought airport assistance can help getting a passenger into their seat? Is there no wheelchair spaces on planes? There must be a way for completely immobile passengers to fly, it’s abit silly that they cannot sit in extra room seats/exit seats as it’s extremely difficult trying to get them into a standard seat when there’s not enough room to do so. I really struggled with getting my daughter in as she had to be sat next to window and it was really tight and she’s only 3 so goodness knows what it’s like trying to get an adult seated. There’s wheelchair accessible vehicles with wheelchair straps so maybe something like that added to a plane would be a good idea

Yes i would complain! I would say i wasn't blaming the staff ( as clearly it isn't their fault, especially your flight home they sounded very concerned) but that everyone should should know how to use it as it shouldn't be down to you.
completely unfair to put your family and daughter through that

I don't think you can have wheelchair spaces in planes because you would need to attach the wheel chair securely to the framework of the plane in a way that met the international aviation standard for safety.

We recently flew with Easyjet and the ground staff we fantastic with assisting a passenger to his seat (1 row in front of me, across the aisle, 8 wasn’t gawping).

It was unfortunate that the arms on the seats could not Nobel raised to slide the passenger across, instead a member of staff had to enter the row behind, after clearing those passengers, to lift the gentleman from behind.

I don’t understand why the limited mobility passengers aren’t boarded first (at least on our flight) as then the r would retain a little more dignity as fewer people to see the lifting etc.

I’m sorry you had suc(ph a bad experience

Limited mobility passenger are taken up in their own wheelchair with the ambulift. Then they are swapped to special, narrow wheelchairs which can be wheeled down the aisle to the seat and then moved to the seat...in principle, in practice, faced with someone lightweight they ask you to carry the person.

booboos www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful-info/special-assistance/general-special-assistance-questions

Ryanair assistance FAQ- it says in the section about the onboard wheelchair that they can’t assist people transferring.

I read that to mean that cabin crew cannot assist with transfer to wheelchair in order to use the toilet which is different from ground crew assisting to one’s seat in the first place.

poor you. what a shit experience.
do complain. loudly.

when I broke my foot on holiday I was taken on and off the plane by airside red cross. they also made sure I was comfortable and buckled in.

and the lovely flight attendant found an equally lovely passenger to sit next to me to hold my baby. (ryanair)

Frank Gardner and Tanni Grey-Thompson are both brilliant at raising similar issues. Can you share your story with them? Twitter?

You need to know that these travel companies don’t actually own any aeroplanes... they hire them for the holiday season, paint them up, hire temp crews and then let everyone go after the summer. These crews are the most inexperienced of all cabin crews around, with the worst working and pay conditions available for that kind of job. The communication failure does not surprise me at all. Typical of the “over promise and under deliver” style of selling to get bums on seats. Considering that what you see happening in a cabin is only about 1% of what a cabin crew is supposed to be trained to do - the rest involves evacuation, safety and aviation medicine, I suspect it’s worth paying a little bit more to go with a genuine airline if you have a disabled child. I would not trust that these crews would be able to handle any genuine emergencies, let alone hang around to help you all get out of the plane.

On Twitter, they're @Tanni_GT and @FrankRGardner

My DD has MS and now uses the assistance service on every flight.
As far as I am aware it is the airline who arrange the assistance with the airport.
If you book through a tour operator rather than direct with the airline there are multiple chances for the message to get lost as the OP discovered.
However having a harness that staff are not trained to use is really bad. I would write to the airlines involved directly, and Thomas Cook.
And then there's always the Daily Mail