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Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Blind man reports being barred from flight due to disability

Zuhair Mahmoud, a blind technology specialist from Virginia, told AP that he was told he couldn't travel alone when he checked into FlyDubai for a flight from Dubai because it was airline policy not to permit a blind traveler to fly alone.

The airline's chief executive offered an apology and denied FyDubai discriminates against blind or disabled passengers.

FlyDubai also promised to rebook Mahmoud on another flight that's convenient for him and offered him a voucher for a free flight to make up for the mishap. "This morning's events were extremely unfortunate and should not have happened. We will conduct a full investigation to find out what went wrong in this situation and take all means necessary to ensure it does not happen again," FlyDubai CEO Ghaith al-Ghaith said in an e-mail to the AP.

Mahmoud wants steps taken to make sure this doesn't happen to other travelers. "The real test is how it's handled and how it's reacted to. Mistakes happen all the time. It's how you deal with them that defines who you are," he said.

2 comments:

yasmin said...

This happened to me on an AeroMexico flight when I turned 21. It was the most humiliating, and freakiest experience ever. I tell you what, I certainly learned that day to plan ahead in case something like that ever happened again.

Ruth said...

Yasmin,

Sorry to hear this happened to you. Thanks for commenting about it.