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BBC journalist Frank Gardner, 63, revealed on social media that he was forced to crawl to the bathroom during a recent London-bound flight because the airline does not allow onboard wheelchairs.
Gardner, a disabled war correspondent, was shot and paralyzed by al Qaeda gunmen in Saudi Arabia 20 years ago, according to a New York Post report. He shared the humiliating experience of his forced crawl to the bathroom on X.
“Wow. It’s 2024 and I’ve just had to crawl along the floor of this LOT Polish airline to get to the toilet during a flight back from Warsaw as ‘we don’t have onboard wheelchairs. It’s airline policy,’” Gardner said. “If you’re disabled and you can’t walk this is just discriminatory.”
“In fairness to the cabin crew, they were as helpful and apologetic as they could be. Not their fault, it’s the airline. Won’t be flying LOT again until they join the 21st century,” Gardner wrote in a follow-up post.
Wow. It’s 2024 and I’ve just had to crawl along the floor of this LOT Polish airline to get to the toilet during a flight back from Warsaw as “we don’t have onboard wheelchairs. It’s airline policy”. If you’re disabled and you can’t walk this is just discriminatory. pic.twitter.com/aFuxo89DR5
— Frank Gardner (@FrankRGardner) September 30, 2024
Gardner also discussed the “inhumane” incident on “BBC Breakfast” Tuesday, stating: “It is outrageous in terms of air travel that LOT, the Polish airline I traveled on from Warsaw last night back to London, had no onboard aisle chair… I said, ‘Well, how do you expect me to go to the loo?’ ‘Well, we can help you.’
He continued: “Well, not really, because if somebody drags you to the loo it’s too difficult. I had to crawl on my backside along the floor — which wasn’t particularly clean — of the aircraft. The cabin crew were very embarrassed and they were as helpful as they could — there was a really nice steward there who was fantastic. He was able to take my legs. But the point is, guys, it’s not difficult to have an onboard aisle chair. These things fold up to the size of a pram, if not smaller, and they fit into an overhead locker or into a cupboard.”
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