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 🤷🏽‍♀️

I don't think people realise how disabled people's rights and dignity are being eroded until they experience it themselves. OP. It sounds like a really stressful experience and I hope you get the response you deserve from Thomas Cook.

It might be worth learning how to use the harness yourself for next time. You shouldn't have to, but in the interests of not having to rely on others and to make it as stress free as possible. And attach a clearly visible tag to the wheelchair before putting it in the hold saying it must be available at the steps on arrival, to try to stop it getting taken away.

I should think there are forums and FB groups for disabled travellers which will have good tips and specific info about what to do at each airport. I hope it doesn't put you off future holidays and the next one goes more smoothly.

Complain, in writing, and pursue it as far and as long as you have energy.

I think also there would be newspaper interest in this so if you can face it, email something like the consumer section at the guardian to see if they will help bring attention and shine a light on the issue.

I’m so sorry you and your daughter had this experience. It shouldn’t happen.

That's awful op, my mum had physical disabilities and is in a wheel chair( most of the time) I know she's had mixed experience,s both at the airport and on flights , it's not good enough, we have never been brave enough to go abroad yet with ds2_who is severely autistic and has learning disabilities, I know at Manchester they have a lanyard for people with hidden disabilities ( to alerts staff)I'm not sure how successful they are.

@justilou1 temp staff? I've a friend who is cabin crew for Thomas cook, it's not seasonal. Do they really have untrained temporary staff?

OP, I'd definitely complain. Not sure you'll get more than a sorry and we will treat this as a learning opportunity though 🙄

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They are trained / all cabin crew have to be trained, but it’s VERY rudimentary compared to AIRLINE training. They are in general, very inexperienced. The fact that they were all untrained in how to use the harness was very telling.

I don't understand though, aren't they employed by the airline? My friend says she is and it's all year round permanent

YANBU. I'm so sorry this happened to you and your family and it's not acceptable

I do wonder if it was because of the airline, and what everyone is saying about these summer charters being the worst trained and inexperienced. When we flew BA with my 4 year old in a hip spica from his navel to his toes and a bar between his knees, they were just amazing all the way through with access, storing the wheelchair and having it ready as soon as we landed and carrying DS onto the plane first to get settled. The whole plane crew and ground staff in Heathrow T5 seemed well trained and on the ball and they had all communicated and were expecting us. Maybe we just got lucky though since it was a BA flight and wasn't code shared with another airline or a charter.

This is awful.
You must complain as this was unacceptable.
Earlier this year I flew as an assisted passenger for the first time. I was annoyed at having to need such. We travelled jet2 and cannot fault the care. The only issue was another older woman who was on another flight came running to the special assistance desk and shoved in front of me and jumped into a wheelchair swearing for all she was fit.
In my case I have to use a rollator for walking which I was able to take to plane doors and it was taken to the hold and I used a folding stick on the plane.
Staff were brilliant

We travelled last year with Thomas Cook and requested a Creilling Harness for our son !!!! The harness though won't assist in sitting upright .... You need something like a 'Seat to Go' to assist with sitting.
The crew did not have the harness attached and they struggled to get it on and you do need to book the back seats if you know you will need a harness!
Thomas Cook failed to book our children, children's meals do my autistic son went hungry for 9 hours ..... I'm glad we fed him up before we left ! The guys on board though did find him as much cheese and crackers as they could find !!!
Ask for the staff to have training but by the next time it's used they will forget how to get it on and struggle with the space ! We have one in our wheelchair accessible Vehicle and I have the whole van to get ours on and it still takes ages...they are ridiculously fiddly items !!!
Have a look at the "seat to go" they are brilliant !!!

The airline should book special assistance who get the person onto the plane and into their seat (and they should be boarded first). Cabin crew should know how to operate the harness and your seat should be marked SA.

Icebear rocks, she can sit but due to low and high muscle tone is extremely wobbly. We have a goto seat but was advised we couldn't use it and had to use their harness. We payed extra to book our seats and booked the ones at the back so no one was behind her but for some reason they were moved. I've looked into it now and know how to use one so we don't face the same issues again if we book to go away again next year

I ended up putting it on the return journey !!! They can use a go-to seat !!! You've been misinformed there !!!

I work with disabled people. It is absolutely astonishing how badly they are treated, and it seems to be getting worse instead of better.

I would definitely complain if I were you OP. For your daughter and for others who may need to use the service.

What an awful experience you had.

I used to work for an airline (not charter, low cost or temporary) and we were well trained but I cannot recall having any training regarding harnesses. I think there was a page in our SEP manual about it.

I know it's been a while. Just wanted to give you an update and see what you think. I complained. Thomas cook got back to me saying that staff are fully trained on the harness, stating they don't know why the steward we had said he wasn't. They also said the information about my daughter needing the harness was passed on and said they think the cabin crew just didn't bother to look at the passenger list. They also offered us £200. I might sound like I'm being ungrateful but I'm really not happy and feel like they're fobbing us off. The cabin stewardess on the way went and checked the passenger list and came back and said the information about her needing the harness was not on there and the steward said he hadn't been trained on the harness at all. so someone is lying and I don't know why but I feel like thomas cook are just trying to shift blame on the cabin crew. If they had just said "we've really screwed up, I'm sorry and we'll make sure it doesn't happen again" then it would be fine but I feel like they're not sorry at all and have no understanding or sympathy. I'm not sure what to do now. Should I just get over it and move on or take it further? It would only be to their ADR body but it stated they deal with complaints regarding disabled passengers and service recieved. I'm just so angry that they don't seem to care that she wasn't in it properly so she wasn't safe. If we had an accident or bad turbulence we would be having a completely different situation as she would of been Injured.

I would escalate it, yes. Perhaps there was a miscommunication because your plane was changed, perhaps Thomas Cook are out and out lying, but either way if you escalate it hopefully you will prevent someone else having the same issue (and like you said, if there was turbulence it could have been worse)

The problem you have is that it's your word against theirs. If the staff involved have given the complaint handler a different version of events, the complaint handler has no way of knowing which is correct. You've been offered £200 which suggests they acknowledge something went wrong. They won't look at the incident on a hypothetical basis - i.e. that someone could have been injured, but wasn't - they'll consider what actually happened, as best they can reconstruct it.

Thomas cook got back to me saying that staff are fully trained on the harness, stating they don't know why the steward we had said he wasn't. They also said the information about my daughter needing the harness was passed on and said they think the cabin crew just didn't bother to look at the passenger list. They also offered us £200. I might sound like I'm being ungrateful but I'm really not happy and feel like they're fobbing us off.

But essentially it doesn't matter whether the cabin crew are to blame or not - either way, TC failed to provide an acceptable service, clearly the staff had not had adequate training and/or did not check the passenger lists. The fault still lies with TC - they are TC staff.

Hi I was cabin crew for many years & I would most certainly escalate this. I think I read that the flights were sub-chartered out to another Airline, Avion Express who from a quick google are what are known as an ACMI operator as opposed to being operated by Thomas Cook - despite this I would still expect the crew to be fully trained in ALL aspects of passenger safety & be familiar with all equipment & be ready to assist where required...you didn’t receive great service on your outbound flight & were made to feel like a nuisance - which you were not in any way - although your experience was slightly improved on your return & this simply shouldn’t have happened. It’s hard enough travelling with children at anytime and particularly more so when you require specialised equipment / assistance. Good luck& definitely escalate this further :)

People on here are much more knowledgeable than me, so I won't comment on what the airline should/shouldn't have done. I can say though that you shouldn't ever be embarrassed. If people are thinking about your family it's only to wonder if they can help.

Re cabin crew not being able to assist to lift on the flight.... What do disabled people do if they need to go to the toilet??

To be honest I would suggest learning how to do it yourself. Another idea for a holiday is to take the ferry to Spain, we were amazed at how many families with disabilities were in the queue (I felt a fraud as dd has asd and didn't need boarding help but we got a cheaper price declaring her disability). By driving you can take everything you need with you, and electric wheelchairs don't travel well on planes.

As far as in flight assistance - airlines tell people they must travel with a carer if they need assistance in flight beyond use of a special wheelchair - if you look at the conditions of carriage they don't help much beyond getting you to and from your seat.

YANBU - the service fell short.

But it is different for passengers needing help on a flight, be they registered disabled or just frail/with an injury etc. I don't think that cabin crew or an airline would want to be held responsible for allegedly/inadvertently harming a person.

In theme parks it is always stated that ride attendants will not help a person in/out of wheelchair; they must be helped by a carer.

Also, I never really thought about this before - if someone needs assistance in/out of their seat and to get down the aisle, what happens in case of an emergency? I know there is only a very very tiny chance of ever being involved in an emergency evacuation - but what is meant it happen?