Sunday 30 June 2019

Jetstar

I wrote another letter over the weekend...  Let's see where this goes...

Letter to Gareth Evans, CEO Jetstar Airways Pty Ltd (gareth.evans@jetstar.com),
Dear Mr Evans,
I am writing to you about Jetstar boarding procedures for wheelchair users at Sydney Domestic Airport T2.
In March 2019, I travelled with my then 12 year old daughter Billie from Sydney to Launceston, were she was competing in the 2019 Tasmanian State Boccia Titles. Boccia is a Paralympic ball sport played in over fifty countries.
Billie uses an electric wheelchair. Her chair is very expensive ($27,000) and an absolutely essential part of her life.
We are regular travellers with Billie, so we have a fair bit of experience flying with an electric wheelchair. We have all the necessary paperwork (such as Dangerous Goods declaration and details of the chair and battery type) ready, and always arrive two hours before departure, allowing more check-in time than the recommended minimum 90 minutes for domestic flights.
We decided to travel Jetstar for a number of reasons: we are Qantas Frequent Flyers and all the wheelchair details (IATA code WCHC) are listed under her membership; we strongly prefer direct flights as every change increases the chances of the wheelchair getting damaged (only Jetstar and Virgin Australia are available as direct flight from Sydney to Launceston, bypassing Melbourne); and finally, the Virgin flights from Sydney to Launceston were not available.
When we arrived at check-in, we were told Billie was not allowed to drive her chair to the door of the aircraft as per Jetstar policy. When asked why this was so, it was explained to us that “there is no lift near the gate” and staff would have to push the chair from the aircraft back to the lift near the check-in counter, then travel down, and push the chair back to the aircraft to be loaded into the hold.
Upon reading your Disability Access Facilitation Plan, I understand that this is presented as standard procedure for passengers travelling with an electric wheelchair. I believe this requirement contravenes the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) and is contrary to the CASA guidelines which clearly state ‘[a]irlines cannot restrict the movements of passengers in terminals, including those with a disability. Nor can they require them to remain in a holding area or other location while waiting for transport or assistance.’[1]  Furthermore, your policy is either inadequate or incorrect – in Launceston, Billie was allowed to stay in her electric wheelchair after check-in and drive to the aircraft, where a DPL99 Special Access Lift or similar, was used to take her in her electric wheelchair to the aircraft door.
Yet in Sydney, Billie was forced to use one of Jetstar’s narrow aisle chairs. She was not offered a wide body wheelchair. In either case, both types of manual wheelchair would have to, as per your policy, be pushed by a staff member or assistant of the travelling wheelchair user, thus taking away any independence of movement contrary to CASA advice.
Billie cannot safely sit in these aisle chairs, and had to be strapped up in order to not fall out. Keeping in mind that we had arrived super early as a courtesy to your staff to allow a smooth check-in, this meant that Billie was in essence strapped into a chair for about two hours, as if in some type of straightjacket.
She was absolutely distraught and petrified the entire time. In between her sobbing she said “they literally just took my legs away” and she requested that we take a photograph so that “people can see what it’s like, because they don’t understand.” Here is that photograph:


It has taken me a few months to write this letter, because both Billie and I are still getting upset thinking abut this moment, (although at Billie’s request, I did post the photograph on Facebook at the time. It was shared over 1.6K times).
I believe this procedure by Jetstar check-in at Sydney Domestic Terminal 2 falls short of your legal obligations on a number of fronts.
Forcing electric wheelchair users into manual chairs at check-in is a restrictive and discriminatory practice not based on any logical and proportionate reason.

Taking people’s mobility away would certainly be an improper use of a restrictive practice – especially in the case where people are strapped into aisle wheelchairs for more than an hour. Restrictive practices are defined by the Australian Law Reform Commission[2] as involving ‘the use of interventions by carers and service providers that have the effect of limiting the rights or freedom of movement of a person with disability, with the primary purpose of protecting the person or others from harm. These include restraint (chemical, mechanical, social or physical) and seclusion.[3]  While restrictive practices are generally used in circumstances to protect from harm the person with disability or others around them, they are also imposed as a ‘means of coercion, discipline, convenience, or retaliation by staff, family members or others providing support’ (my emphasis).[4]

Insisting that people transfer to manual chairs that need to be driven by others rather than self-propelled infantises wheelchair users, and, where people with disability like Billie need to be strapped in, may amount to a civil offence (in tort) of trespass to the person or false imprisonment.[5]  Furthermore, denying people their means of independent mobility may also amount to discrimination under s 5 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth).
Can Jetstar please clarify the following points:
1) I am utterly confused with regards to the lift issue as presented to me by Jetstar staff at the check-in counter. The map of Sydney Domestic Terminal T2 (Departures and Arrivals)[6] shows a lift between gates 59 and 57. Why can this lift not be used to bring electric wheelchairs from the gate down to the aircraft?

The lift that is shown by the gates is at about the same distance as in the part of the terminal used by Virgin Australia (who do allow people to drive their chairs to the door of the aircraft). Can you please confirm or deny whether there is indeed a lift near the gates. If there is a lift, why is it not being used? What explains the difference in policy with Virgin Australia airlines in the same terminal?
2) Given the restrictive, discriminatory and possibly tortuous nature of the procedure, on which basis has Jetstar decided upon this particular check-in procedure? What is the reasoning behind it? When will Jetstar change this procedure and find alternative option to provide people of self-propelling wheelchairs so they can make their way to the gate and aircraft door, and/or allow people to drive to the door of the aircraft in their own electric wheelchairs?
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Heike Fabig, [contact details]



[1](Australian Government, Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Travellers with a Disability , website information, <https://www.casa.gov.au/aircraft/cabin-safety/travellers-disability>, accessed 27 June 2019.
[2] Australian Law Reform Commission, Equality, Capacity and Disability in Commonwealth Laws (Report No 124, November 2014).
[3] Australian Government, National Framework for Reducing and Eliminating the Use of Restrictive Practices in the Disability Service Sector (2014) 4.
[4] Disability Rights Now, Civil Society Report to the United Nations on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2012) [241].
[5] Secretary Department of Health and Community Services v JWB and SMB (Marion’s Case) (1992) 175 CLR 218) as per Mason CJ, Dawson, Toohey and Gaudron JJ at [3.40] and [6.35].
[6] Available on: <http://ontheworldmap.com/australia/city/sydney/sydney-airport-terminal-2.jpg>.