Barry Dobner, a 79 year old disabled man, has recalled the distressing experience of being told to get off an easyJet flight because he was unable to walk to the lavatory. Scheduled to fly from Manchester to Athens on April 3 with his wife Alison and friend Sheila for a two-week holiday in Greece, where they had arranged wheelchair-friendly transport and accommodation, Barry's trip was abruptly cut short.
Barry, who has been reliant on a wheelchair since suffering a stroke 18 years ago, described the humiliating moment he was removed from the aircraft just before take-off: "The whole plane was standing up watching what was going on. You can imagine how that made me feel."
Barry alleges that easyJet was informed of his wheelchair use when booking the flight, and that he and Alison were assisted onto the plane and seated in the 11th row for the four-hour journey set to depart at 4.40pm.
However, the situation took a turn when a flight attendant noticed Barry had a portable urinal bottle in his hand luggage. Recalling the interaction, Barry said: "A stewardess walked by and she said 'excuse me, do you have a urinal bottle?'. My wife said yes, in case of emergencies. She said 'hang on a minute'; she came back and said 'can your husband walk to the toilet'?".
"My wife said 'no, my husband can't walk at all'. They said 'you have to get off this plane'. My wife asked why and they said 'because he can't walk to the toilet'."
Barry recalled how their entire party was forced to disembark and a friend had to collect them from the airport to return home.
His wife Alison, aged 67, said: "We have flown with easyJet and with Ryanair before, and we have never had anything like this before.
"What upsets me the most is the way he was spoken to. To treat a disabled person like that was appalling, especially when they had all the information beforehand. It's just ludicrous. The other passengers were sitting there gobsmacked."
Barry shared his feelings after the experience: "I've always been a happy go lucky chap but this has knocked me back a bit. I feel like just an object, I'm not a person any more. My self respect had gone right down.
"Since I had my stroke I've been in a wheelchair and I've been trying to keep not maudlin and carry on. But when someone says that to you it knocks the stuffing out of you. It's that sort of feeling. Your confidence just disappears".
He added: "I've flown six times since my stroke and it's always been fine before this. They knew I couldn't walk when they put me on the plane."
The couple had organised the trip as an early celebration for Barry's 80th birthday. They reported a loss of around £2,000 due to the missed flight and have approached their holiday insurance providers about the issue.
Additionally, they filed a complaint with easyJet.
Barry shared his frustration: "We had hotels booked in Athens. We had a hire car paid for to pick us up at the airport, and we've lost £2,000. We've lost everything. We don't know if we'll get the flight money back. When I asked if we'd be reimbursed for the flight, we just got told to call easyJet."
A easyJet spokesman said: “We are very sorry Mr and Mrs Dobner and their companion were unable to fly as planned with easyJet. We are in touch with Mr Dobson and his party to apologise for this error and to refund them in full for their flight and provide them with denied boarding compensation.
“As an airline, we are committed to making easyJet accessible to everyone. easyJet carries around one million passengers requiring some form of assistance each year and our research shows that 87% of easyJet passengers who require this are satisfied with the services we provide.”
English (United States) ·