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- A woman says she was forced to crawl off a plane after staff couldn’t provide a wheelchair for her.
- Natalie Curtis was touring from Singapore to Bangkok with the Australian funds airline, Jetstar.
- A spokesperson for Jetstar mentioned the airline had apologized for the incident.
An airline has apologized after a woman was forced to crawl off a plane because staff couldn’t provide a wheelchair in time for her to disembark a flight.
Natalie Curtis was touring from Singapore to Bangkok, Thailand, on the final leg of a journey from Townsville, Queensland, with Australian funds airline, Jetstar, when the incident occurred.
Curtis advised the Australian Channel 7 breakfast present, Sunrise, that she was provided a customary aisle wheelchair to board the flight in Singapore.
When Curtis arrived in Bangkok, she mentioned staff advised her she would have to pay to use one other chair to get off the plane, which she refused to do. Jetstar has denied that there was a request for fee.
Curtis advised the information channel that the incident might have resulted from a language barrier between herself and airline staff.
Since her touring companion had a knee harm and was unable to help her, Curtis mentioned she was left with little possibility however to make her approach off the flight by dragging herself down the aisle. Curtis shared a video of the incident with 7NEWS Brisbane.
Curtis additionally posted in regards to the incident in a Facebook group, saying that she had “never felt so degraded” in her life.
Insider has reached out to Curtis for remark.
A spokesperson for Jetstar advised Insider the airline had apologized for the incident and clarified that it didn’t cost for wheelchair use.
They mentioned: “We are committed to providing a safe and comfortable travel experience for all our customers, including those requiring specific assistance.”
The spokesperson continued: “Regrettably, this was not the case for Ms. Curtis following a miscommunication that resulted in the delay of an aisle chair being made available at the gate on arrival and we are looking into what happened as a matter of urgency.”
“At no point was an aisle chair withheld due to a request for payment. Our customer team has contacted Ms. Curtis to better understand her experience and to offer her a refund, as well as additional compensation,” they added.
