A disabled travel blogger who says he was threatened with being forcibly deplaned at gunpoint by Delta staff in Atlanta as he tried to wait onboard for his wheelchair says that the airline has promised him a full investigation into the shocking incident.
Cory Lee, a Georgia-based blogger, was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy at the age of two and has used a wheelchair since he was a child. When wheelchair users fly, they are supposed to have their own wheelchairs delivered to them at the jet bridge as soon as the plane lands. In the event that their personal wheelchair is not available due to damage or loss, they are offered what is known as an “aisle chair”: a rudimentary wheelchair that many describe as uncomfortable and unsuited to their needs.
Mr Lee, 32, explained to The Independent what happened to him as he returned home from Santiago, Chile to the United States on November 13.
“I am always the last one to get off the plane. So, everyone deboarded except for me and my mom and my friend who was with us. The three of us were still on the plane waiting to get off and the crew brought on the aisle chair ready to get me off. I asked them at that time if my personal powered wheelchair was at the door of the plane, or was ready, or was it there yet.
“At that point, they told me that it was not there and so I requested to just be left on the plane in the plane seat instead of getting that uncomfortable aisle chair and having to wait on the jet bridge for my own chair.
“It is a request I make on every flight, it is nothing out of the ordinary. It can sometimes take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour — I have even waited over an hour waiting for them to bring my wheelchair up to the jet bridge.
‘Definitely ready to get off’
“By the time we got to Atlanta, I was ready to get off the flight. It had been almost 10 hours. I was definitely ready to get off.
“When I sit in the aisle chair for any extended period of time, it is super uncomfortable. The aisle chair that they brought didn’t even have armrests on it so I was really having a difficult time even sitting up and remaining stable… The straps on it were broken that buckle me in. I am completely unable to sit up by myself unassisted so without the armrests and without the securement straps it is already a danger to me, especially if it is for an extended period of time.
“So, I told them that I wanted to sit on the plane seat inside the plane and wait for my wheelchair to arrive on the jet bridge. Usually, they do not have any problems with that, but this time, they got pretty disgruntled immediately. Some of the crew wanted to get me off the plane as quickly as possible.
Threatened with deplaning at gunpoint
“They started getting an attitude and went and got the gate agent, which we had also requested. She was also really upset that I wanted to stay on the plane instead of getting off at that point. The gate agent got so upset that the flight attendant said that if I did not get off that TSA would be coming on with their ‘guns’ to get me off the plane.
“I was immediately shocked. I didn’t really know what to say to them. I have done this process hundreds of times over the years. I’ve gone to 40 countries on all seven continents. I fly very frequently — this was the first time that anything like that has happened, where they were just refusing to let me wait on the plane.
“There really wasn’t a good explanation for it, they just immediately got an attitude about this. We were all kind of shocked that they said that to us.
Decided to stand ground and explained Air Carrier Access Act
“Then I was like: Well, should I get off, are they really going to bring guns? But I decided to stand my ground and told them, according to the Air Carrier Access Act — the regulations that airlines have to abide by when it comes to passengers with disabilities — you can wait on the plane until your wheelchair is as close to the plane door as possible. Even after I explained the law, they still were very adamant about getting me off.
“A few minutes later, a different person came on board and he was very, very nice and he said that my wheelchair was actually out there in the jet bridge — he had just brought it up. So when he told us that, we got off the plane and I got into my wheelchair.
“From the time that the altercation started to when I actually got my wheelchair was maybe around 20 minutes, so not a huge amount of time for them all to get that upset.
Nerves for next flight to Hawaii
“I flew a few days ago from Atlanta to Hawaii and I was like, well I hope this goes okay. I was a little nervous before the flight because I didn’t know how it was going to go and how it would be handled but luckily it went very smoothly.
“There have been other incidents but nothing like to this degree. I have had random flight attendants who wanted to rush me off the plane when we landed and they did not want me to wait on the plane for my wheelchair.
We have dealt with that a couple of other times, both in the US and with Delta. This is definitely not the first time, but I am pretty loyal to Delta. It is the worst thing they have ever done, though.
Delta launch an investigation into the incident
“Someone from Delta’s corporate office has now called me and said that they are still doing a thorough investigation and trying to interview and talk to all of the flight attendants and ground crew and the gate agent and everyone that was involved in the situation to learn more.
“My dream would really be for Delta to offer courses on how to interact with people with disabilities and explain what the rules and regulations are according to the Air Carrier Access Act. [They should] train all of the employees on what the ACAA is and what the regulations are so that they are aware of it.
“Usually, whenever I mention those regulations it is the first time that the flight attendants have ever even heard of them. They are just unaware of what the rules and regulations are according to the ACAA.
“I have to say that this was an outlier… It has only been on a very few times when the staff come with an attitude.
“Otherwise they have been really friendly.They help me on and off the plane, often they will sit with me and talk with me and we have a really good conversation about travel and where they are going next. I have made some really good connections with a lot of flight attendants and I think most of them are really, really good, there is just a bad apple every now and then.”
The airline in a statement said the exchange in a video posted online by Mr Lee did not reflect the “high standard of care” Delta employees aspired to every day.
Cory Lee’s blog, Curb Free with Cory Lee, details his life traveling the globe in search of accessible destinations and trips for wheelchair users
