Pratyush Nalam came to New York City to study at Columbia University, but was stopped dead in his tracks when his motorized wheelchair didn’t arrive with him. It seems that AirIndia saw fit to leave it in Delhi without telling him. Apparently they decided that his fully-approved sealed gel-cell batteries weren’t approved after all, so they just left it at the airport. Nice work AirIndia!

Update: AirIndia agreed to send the wheelchair on a flight tomorrow, but without any batteries. Pratyush doesn’t yet know where he’ll source the correct batteries for his Taiwan-made wheelchair that isn’t available in the US. Stay tuned, this story promises to be a wild ride. Or not.