‘Second-class citizen’: man lifted on to plane as Darwin airport had no ramp for wheelchair users

An Australian man has said he was made to feel like a “second-class citizen” by being lifted on to a Jetstar flight in Darwin, as disability advocates call for a complete overhaul of the way airlines treat passengers. Brad Wszola, 50, suffered a spinal cord injury in 2016. He uses a wheelchair, but was not able to navigate the gap between the air bridge and the plane when boarding a Jetstar flight from Darwin to Cairns on 12 August. When his wife, Jenny, asked airline staff for a ramp to bridge the gap, she was told Darwin airport did not provide any. His wife and a staff member had to lift him over the gap to transfer to the aisle wheelchair provided inside the plane. “Watching these people having to lift me, to bend down, Jen had to bend down below the level of the floor of the plane, bend over and grab the bottom of the aisle chair to lift me … That put myself at risk, also the staff at risk and Jenny at risk,” Wszola said. “She was the one helping lift me into the plane.” He said having a ramp available at every airport around the country was an “inexpensive no-brainer” that would allow everyone to travel. It wasn’t the only time they felt mistreated on the trip – on arrival in Darwin, Wszola said, the airline did not bring his chair to the air bridge, instead sending it to the baggage carousel with the other passengers’ luggage. “When we got down to the carousel there was no wheelchair, my wheelchair came out last,” he said. “So I’m stuck in this chair that I can’t get around in.”<br/>