Dear Members,
I want to share that last year king fisher refused to book my ticket to
Bangalore to Delhi.
I wrote a letter personally and also from comitioner disabilities office.
One fine day they called me over phone and said that sorry for this incident
and requesting me please do not force to give in writing.
Accept our apology our staf was unaware that blind person can travel alone.
I did not persue further.----- Original Message -----
From: "Pradeep banakar" <pradeepsocialw...@gmail.com>
To: <accessindia@accessindia.org.in>
Cc: <linkingle...@yahoogroups.com>; <friends...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 4:17 PM
Subject: [AI] Kingfisher crew offloads blind woman with kids
Friend of myne forwarded me this information
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/article/0gG70zO9fqb0C
Kindly copy the message and send the email to chair
kingfisher airlines, NHRC, DGCA.
Subject: Act immediately
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
To:
The Chair Person,
King Fisher Airlines
Dear Chair Person,
Sub-Registering protest for immediate and appropriate action against
guilty crew
This is to register our strong protest against the inhuman, cruel and
indecent behaviour of your crew and other airline members shown towards a
woman with visual impairment and her 2 children. We are shocked and
humiliated by the act and express our serious concern over the matter.
This is the clear case of violation of the provisions enshrined in The "UN
Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities-2006" where India
has signed and ratified the same; Guidelines issued by DGCA for all
airlines with regard to persons with disabilities in May 2007; Persons
with disabilities Act 1995 and other human rights treaties and
conventions.
Disabled community of this country strongly condemns this act with clear
and loud words."Violation or Exclusion of persons with disabilities from
enjoying their human rights on an equal basis with others cannot be
excused any more". We urge you to initiate immediate and appropriate
action against the guilty crew and the parties concerned who are
accountable for this inhuman act.
We look forward to hear from you as early as possible about the action
taken against the guilty and measures taken to prevent this kind of acts
in future.
For more details on the incident please read below.
With warm regards,
Victor
Kingfisher crew offloads blind woman with kids
Airline makes them disembark from flight, leaves them unattended for
nearly an hour and a half as aircraft takes off without them
A private airline made a blind woman and her two children disembark from
her connecting flight to Goa and left them unattended for nearly an hour
and a half while the plane took off without them.
Adding insult to injury, the airline's staff allegedly told the woman that
she could not travel with two kids because she was blind.
Shabnam Mansuri had flown in to Mumbai from Ahmedabad with sons Lukman (7)
and 18-month-old Luftaan, and was on her way to Goa when the incident
happened
Shabnam Mansuri (35) says the experience has made her realise the fallacy
of thinking that she can be treated like everyone else despite her
handicap.
On May 10, Mansuri was travelling with her sons Lukman (7) and
18-month-old Luftaan from Ahmedabad to Goa via Mumbai to meet her husband.
Her tickets had been booked with Kingfisher Airlines.
"I boarded the Kingfisher flight from Ahmedabad and reached Mumbai, from
where I was supposed to take a connecting flight to Goa.
I had barely taken a seat in the connecting flight around 12.30 pm when a
crew member came and asked me to follow him. He also asked me to take my
cabin baggage and kids with me.
Initially, I thought that he must be changing my seat, but realised
something was amiss when he took me down some stairs," said Mansuri.
"I asked him why he was making me get off the plane but he refused to
answer. When my kids and I got off, they closed the aircraft's doors and
took off, leaving us standing there.
One attendant told me later that I cannot travel with two kids as I am
blind. I was shocked," she added. She kept telling the attendant that she
had two young kids and needed to meet her husband in Goa, but to no avail.
Finally, close to 2 pm, a staff member came and told her that they would
arrange for her to board a 4.40 pm flight to Goa."I did not want to bank
on them anymore. I called my husband and he arranged for us to board
another airline's 3.10 pm flight.
My question is, how can they let me travel from Ahmedabad to Mumbai
without any trouble and then say I cannot travel with two kids from Mumbai
to Goa? I was travelling on the same airline in both cases," said Mansuri.
She said the experience was one of the worst she's had in her life. "I am
blind but that doesn't mean they have the right to discriminate against
me.
I had paid the full fare and if they had some problems, they should have
informed me before I boarded. My elder son is so traumatised by the
incident; he says he does not want to fly anymore."
Husband reacts
Mansuri's husband, Samir, who is the Chairman of Blinds Dream, an NGO,
wrote a letter to the airline to complain about the treatment meted out to
her.
A portion of the letter states, "Kingfisher officials told my wife that if
she thought they were cruel, she shouldn't travel with them anymore."
"What the Kingfisher staff did to my wife is shameful. They had done
something similar with me in 2005 (see box) and I will not let them get
away this time.
Flight tickets of Shabnam Mansuri and her two sons Lukman and Luftaan
They have replied to my letter but that is not enough. I will take this
issue to the consumer court and will go to the Supreme Court if need be.
This is an insult to me and my family and I will not tolerate it under any
circumstances," said Samir.
He alleged that he had come to know that his wife was made to disembark
because of a VIP booking at the last moment, which led to the flight being
overbooked.
"If their company cannot handle blind people, they should declare that
visually challenged people are not allowed to fly Kingfisher," he added.
The Other Side
When MiD DAY contacted Kingfisher Airlines, they said they regretted the
incident. Prakash Mirpuri, vice-president, corporate communications,
Kingfisher Airlines Limited, said, "We are investigating the matter.
In the meantime, we would like to convey our deep regret for the
inconvenience that may have been caused inadvertently to our valued
guests."
Earlier too
Dr Samir Mansuri, Shabnam's husband and a celebrity doctor who is also
blind, had allegedly been insulted by Kingfisher Airlines in 2005 as well.
According to Samir, he was travelling from Mumbai to Ahmedabad that year.
"I was first in the queue to board the flight, but I was made to wait till
all the other passengers boarded. When I went inside, they forced me to
visit a washroom outside the aircraft even when I did not want to go.
They said they were doing that so I would't have to visit the airplane's
loo when we were airborne. The crew told me that they could not allow me
to use the aircraft's washroom as I am blind and there were female crew
members on board," said Samir.
"I felt insulted and raised the issue in the media. Vijay Mallya then
issued an apology for the indecent behaviour on the airline's part," he
added.
---
IF we not part of the solution then we are part of the problem
With Regards
Pradeep T.S
SyndicateBank
Information Technology Cell
Regional Office Bangalore
Mobile: 9845925188
email: pradeep_bana...@rediffmail.com
skype: pradeepsocialwork
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