October 2011 - ABC Lateline
Watch on the ABC website.
TRANSCRIPT
ALI MOORE, PRESENTER: A hearing has begun today in the Federal Court today with a disabled woman taking action against Jetstar after the airline refused to allow her onto a flight because she was in a wheelchair.
The woman is claiming that Jetstar's policy of allowing only two passengers in wheelchairs on any one flight is a breach of the Disability Discrimination Act.
John Stewart reports.
JOHN STEWART, REPORTER: 75-year-old Sheila King suffered from polio when she was a child and later a car accident left her with a crushed vertebrae.
In 2008, she was denied a seat on a domestic Jetstar flight because she was in a wheelchair.
SHEILA KING, PLAINTIFF: And I got as far as booking from Adelaide back to return to Brisbane, and I was told, "Sorry, we've fulfilled our two wheelchair policy. You can't go on that plane. You could go tomorrow." So I had to go to another airline, buy another ticket and pay more for it.
JOHN STEWART: Sheila King is taking Jetstar to the Federal Court, claiming the airline has breached the Disability Discrimination Act by allowing no more than two wheelchair passengers on any one flight. Ms King says that wheelchair passengers are often discriminated against by Australian budget airlines.
SHEILA KING: And I'm certainly not doing this for my own benefit or for any monetary gain. I'm doing it so that the law changes so that everybody with a disability who needs a mobility aid to travel is able to do so without any barriers being put in their way by any of the airlines.
JOHN STEWART: A spokesman for Jetstar today released a statement saying:
JETSTAR STATEMENT (male voiceover): We help almost 40,000 passengers a year who require specific assistance to fly with us. We carry up to two passengers requiring wheelchair assistance per flight. This limit is reached on less than 10 per cent of our services.
This approach is designed to balance the duty of care we have to passengers requiring assistance with the everyday operational needs of a low-fares airline. Shifting this balance even slightly would have a significant impact on Jetstar. It would increase critical aircraft turnaround times, alter staffing levels, raise costs and ultimately reduce our ability to offer low fares to the travelling public.
Jetstar's practices are similar to other low cost carriers in Australia.
JOHN STEWART: Like Jetstar, Virgin Australia allows a maximum of two wheelchair passengers per flight. Rex Airlines has no limit on wheelchair passengers, but says that electric wheelchairs can become a problem if the weight of the aircraft load is too heavy.
The Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, says that not all airlines are a problem for wheelchair passengers, but he does receive complaints about some of the low-cost carriers.
GRAEME INNES, DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION COMMISSIONER: This problem seems to relate to budget airlines. Qantas certainly doesn't have a policy excluding people - more than two people who use wheelchairs on their aircraft and never has had. And I don't know any other airline in the world that does.
JOHN STEWART: Sheila King's lawyer says that in the United States and some European countries, airlines are legally bound to accept wheelchair passengers.
JOANNA SHULMAN, CEO, REDFERN LEGAL CENTRE: Interestingly, when Jetstar flies in the US, the US Government won't allow them to have the same policy. They're not allowed to count the number of wheelchairs that are allowed on their plane.
JOHN STEWART: The Disability Discrimination commissioner says that if the budget carriers continue to reject wheelchair passengers, they may face more legal challenges.
GRAEME INNES: Australia has good general disability discrimination legislation. The question I suppose is whether or not it's specific enough in this area, and as I've said in Senate estimates, I'm coming to the view that perhaps it's not, if we can't get voluntary compliance on this issue and that perhaps we need some regulatory reform.
JOHN STEWART: Sheila King says that she will continue to fight Jetstar and other budget airlines until they change their policies.
John Stewart, Lateline.
