United Airlines has finally apologized to D’Arcee Neal, a passenger with cerebral palsy, for undergoing a humiliating experience on one of their flights. Neal said that he just made it to his wheelchair and wanted to head home after a long flight from the West Coast.
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But Neal had to go to the bathroom and couldn’t wait any longer.
Taking the matters in his own hands, the 29-years-old crawled down the aisle on all fours to get to his regular wheelchair that awaited him by the doorway.
He was ironically visiting San Francisco to meet with Uber about disabled accessibility.
“I expected them to ask to assist me, but they just stared”, he told CNN.
A United spokesman told CNN that an aisle chair was at the gate when Neal’s plane arrived but removed by mistake before it was Neal’s turn to disembark. “I made a decision to get out and crawl down the plane to my chair”. Neal didn’t, but you might be surprised how United Airlines found out about the treatment of their passenger.
A disabled campaigner resorted to crawling off an aeroplane to use a toilet after a wheelchair mix-up meant he was left waiting on the jet for more than half an hour.
Neal said that one of the flight attendants had recorded him and the on-duty manager was suspended.
The story only came out after Mr Neal posted on his Facebook that he was pleased United had approached him to apologise.
“I didn’t contact United at all, because I honestly didn’t believe they cared”, Neal continued.
Once the mistake was realized, the chair was returned, but it was too late.
“We hope that all of our customers understand that this situation doesn’t reflect the level of service we provide to customers with disabilities each day”, the airline said.
Dara Baldwin of the NDRN revealed to NBC that in 2014, the organization received “over 27,500 complaints in reference to things like this, so it is not uncommon”, adding, “I hate to say that”.
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Neal didn’t file a complaint, but an anonymous good samaritan did so on his behalf. While he has not said he is committed to joining them, he said it is worth considering to “shed a few light on the problem”.
