Airline right in stopping passenger from boarding plane with crutches – Expert

Aerospace Medicine Specialist, Dr. Yakubu Akparibo, has defended Africa World Airlines (AWA) over the decision to prevent a lady living with disability, Rita Kriba, from boarding its Kumasi-bound flight on Saturday.

Dr. Akparibo told Daniel Dadzie, the host of the Super Morning Show on Joy FM, Monday that International aviation standards require persons with diminished mobility to notify the flight operator at least 48hurs to their trip, to enable the airline to properly accommodate them, 

“…just turning up at the gate and then asking them to accommodate her, I think the one who prevented her from boarding did the right thing and actually knew his or her job,” said the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Aeronautical Examiner for Ghana.

The implication, he explained, is that if there is an emergency landing, a person with disability on board the flight, would need to be offered some “special procedures” to get him or her to safety without endangering the lives of the other passengers.

A 30-year-old Rita Kriba who has been living with disability for the past 20 years, felt discriminated against when the staff of the Africa World Airlines (AWA) refused her boarding space on the flight to Kumasi Saturday morning.

Rita Kriba poses with Nana Yaa Brefo, co-host of Badwam on Adom TV

“They took my passport first and told me that I should wait for them and that I will be leaving at 7:00 …So when it was 7:00 and I was supposed to check-in I was told to stand aside and that I can’t send my crutches inside the plane. So I told them I am a person with a disability, how can I go and leave my crutches. They said ‘no, crutches are not allowed,” she recounted to Joy News.

Read: Lady stopped from boarding plane with crutches vows to seek redress 

She described the experience as “So embarrassing. I can’t just get the word for it. It just pulls you down [and] you feel that you are not part of the society."

But Dr. Akparibo, who is an Advisor to the Bureau of Public Safety, explained that “a person like Rita cannot just sit in any seat in the aircraft. She has to be put in a place that when there is an emergency and they need to disembark the passengers it will not be a safety issue for the rest of the passengers.”

Although airlines are mandated by law to accommodate persons with diminished mobility who wish to travel, it is necessary for such persons to give ample information about themselves to enable the flight operators to offer the needed services, he advised. 

He also charged AWA to ensure that the policy is clearly communicated to passengers particularly those needing special assistance and facilities in order to avert what happened over the weekend.

“Africa World [airline] also need to also change their check-in procedures especially the online procedures to include that…,” the safety expert stressed.

Read Full Story