Air Asia Discrimination against disabled passsengers

A Malaysian fellow disabled bloggist, Peter Tan,  told of his discriminatory treatment from Air Asia:

" I was required to sign an indemnity form to release AirAsia from all liabilities. I protested vehemently but was informed that if I refused I would not be allowed into the plane. When asked why I was not required to sign an indemnity form on the previous flight, the officer said she does not know but that was a requirement and I had to sign no matter what. I called up a staff from AirAsia Academy regarding this but she could not do anything.

I also witnessed several other disabled people on flights different from ours signing the indemnity form. As we did not want to miss our flight back, I relented but indicated in the indemnity form that I was signing under protest at being discriminated based on my condition. I paid the full fare like other passengers in the same flight but by signing the indemnity form, I was agreeing to give up my rights to hold AirAsia liable for damages, injuries or other claims even if those arose from the negligence of the airlines."

Source: Peter's blog

Scott Rains, of Rolling Rains Report, picks up cudgels and adds :

" Aside from the moral and legal issues involved in denying equal levels of service to passengers based on race or ability the tactic creates a public relations nightmare. Articulate and connected advocates like Peter are chided by their industry contacts for being precipitous, "We could have worked this out privately" is the line of argument-cum-shaming. That approach is ignorant of the ethos of advocacy that operates within a community when it becomes aware that it is tolerated as "special" rather than sought after as lucrative."

Source: Rolling Rains report

Air Asia has intentions of getting access to UK airports and cheap tickets to UK - while that would be appreciated by many Asians, the DDA here would certainly not allow such treatment - I found the Code of Practice for Access to Air Travel for Disabled People.

Not only will such discriminatory tactics be not allowed, Peter would have redress for such treatment I hope. I know to contact Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC), an organisation which advises the UK Government on access for disabled people and signal to them about Air Asia discriminatory practice but the wider implications would be for the Disability Rights Commission now included into the Equality and Human Rights commission.

Comments

[cheap flights]

Hello,


Its really very sad that in that Asian part that all this is happening. I think there must be some rules and regulation regarding this so that all this can be stopped from happening.

[Nick]

However, this link explains new EU legislation brought in because there has been no legal reason hitherto why airlines cannot refuse to let a disabled person travel alone or to board the aircraft at all http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6914416.stm.  As I understand it, however, even this legislation applies to airports, not airlines, so the airlines are still a law unto themselves.
 
 

[Nick]

From the Code of Practice: "DDA applies to air travel in relation to the use of booking services and airport facilities and services. The actual means of transport – the aircraft – is exempt from the Act’s provisions. So, for example, shops and check-in facilities in the airport are covered by the Act, but in-flight services or entertainment on the aircraft are not. This Code will help the airlines to provide the best service to disabled people on a voluntary basis."