Month: May 2018

Recognising the impact of hidden disabilities on passenger confidence

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…Our industry needs to recognise how these hidden disabilities reduce passenger confidence in our ability to support them as they travel through the world’s airports.
In addition, a recent study in US identified that while there were procedures in place to help and protect people whose disabilities were visible, wheelchair users for example, no procedures existed to help and protect those whose disabilities were not immediately obvious. No-one had thought to factor them into evacuation plans, for example. Yet for a person with ASD, the airport environment is challenging at the best of times, let alone when there is also an emergency situation unfolding.

Read the rest at: https://www.internationalairportreview.com/article/69277/omniserv-hidden-disabilities/

Africa World Airlines allegedly prevents ‘cripple’ from boarding flight

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Ms Kriba, who walks with the aid of crutches, missed her flight to Kumasi from Accra as staff of the airline said the company’s policy does not accommodate persons who cannot board their planes without aid.

Attempts by a passenger to convince authorities to permit Ms Kriba board the flight proved futile.

Read the rest of the story at: https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/KIA-AWA-allegedly-prevents-cripple-from-boarding-flight-649091

VIDEO: Virgin Atlantic and Flying Disabled on the Importance of Accessible Air Travel

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In this edition of APEX Insider, Flying Disabled founder Chris Wood suggests that disabled passengers with disposable income – a market set to grow as a result of the world’s aging population – prefer to travel by land or sea rather than to fly because airlines require them to check their wheelchairs.

Geraldine Lundy, Virgin Atlantic’s passenger accessibility manager, says, “When I look at the number of people with a disability who are flying, either through an airport or with an airline, if you think there’s about 15–20% of the customer population with a disability, you only have about 2% of those who fly … That’s a huge amount of money that businesses are missing out on.”

The interviewees go on to discuss the reasons why this is the case, how legislation shouldn’t have to be the trigger for change and what suppliers like Bluebox Aviation Systems are doing to lead the way in improving the passenger experience for customers with disabilities. The APEX member won a Crystal Cabin Award last month for  Bluebox aIFE, an accessible IFE platform for visually impaired passengers that launched on Virgin Atlantic flights in November 2017.