It is time for action over Australian Airlines
Travability takes great delight in bringing to light those special places that offer inclusive experiences that everyone can enjoy together. There are so many organisations and government departments that are taking inclusiveness and the principles of Universal Design to heart.
Unfortunately the single biggest deterrent to people with disabilities taking advantage of these destinations and experience is the treatment they are still getting from our Australian Airline network. Reprinted below is an article from the Sydney Morning Herald just over a year ago takes talks about the dissatisfaction of people with disabilities to the treatment given to them by airlines. It would seem that a year on the incidents are still happening with monotonous regularity and the airlines are still dishing out the tired old spin that they "handle" hundreds of people with disabilities per week without incident. The issue is that they are still "handling" problems in their eyes and have not yet adopted an inclusive culture that treats their passengers as clients and human beings. The United States took action a few years ago with the introduction of the Air Carriers Access Act. I have said in other blogs that I don't feel that legislation is the answer but unless the airlines in this country can get their collective acts together and change their inherit culture towards passengers with disabilities then it will be time for our own Federal Government to enact similar provisions to force the issue. It would seem that Qantas can comply with the requirements when flying from New York to Los Angeles or on departure from Los Angeles but can't instill the same practices here or through its subsidiary Jetstar. If it truly embraced an inclusive culture it would just happen without the need for legislation to force it to do so. The article below shows that it is not just a spate of incidents or press sensationalism but a deep ongoing cultural issue within the Australian Aviation sector.
Airlines dive in survey of disabled passenger satisfaction
BONNY SYMONS-BROWN
November 13, 2008
PEOPLE with disabilities have significantly more trouble accessing airline services than five years ago, despite the introduction of a national standard to protect them.
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre surveyed 110 people with disabilities, their carers or advocates and found that only 14 had an overall positive experience when dealing with airlines.
Its report concludes that there has been "a systemic failure of airlines to improve access". It has been submitted to a federal government five-year review of disability standards for accessible public transport.
The standards are a regulatory framework for all modes of public transport but there is no compliance monitoring or licensing requirement for airlines to meet the standards.
Even if the airlines do meet the standards, the report warned, the standards do not adequately protect the human rights of people with disabilities.
The complaints included airline announcements that delays were due to a wheelchair passenger, travel being refused unless the disabled person was accompanied by a carer, and broken wheelchairs due to negligent handling. In one case, a passenger was left on the tarmac with no assistance to the terminal entrance.
The centre's chief executive officer, Robin Banks, said restrictive airline policies on aids such as wheelchairs or assistance animals and inadequate communication between staff and customers with a disability had lead to negative experiences for many disabled travellers.
"People reported things like they felt humiliated or they felt embarrassed, some of them said they wouldn't be flying again, and the sense that people were afraid of the experience being repeated," she said.
"The other really strong and common theme is a sense of frustration and a sense that the person they were dealing with couldn't resolve, or was unwilling to attempt to resolve, the problem."
The report, co-ordinated with the NSW Disability Discrimination Legal Centre, calls for an airline-specific code of practice to be developed in consultation with people with disabilities and administered by a relevant federal transport agency; mandatory reporting requirements, with data released annually; training courses in disability management for all airline staff; and an industry-based complaints process.
Ms Banks said that in a country such as Australia, where air travel was an important part of public transport, people with disabilities should not continue to confront accessibility problems.
Links to our other articles
Australian Airlines must lift their game
The Kurt Fearnley incident with Jetstar highlights how far we are from true inclusion.
Jetstar leaves blind couple stranded