Woman crawls off plane after being denied complimentary aisle wheelchair

Natalie Curtis

A birthday holiday in Thailand became memorable for the wrong reasons for one Australian woman when she was forced to crawl off the plane after staff told her she’d have to pay for an aisle wheelchair.

Natalie Curtis, 35, from Townsville, Queensland, is a mother and represented Australia in wheelchair basketball before retiring to focus on her business. To celebrate her birthday, she and a friend planned a trip to Asia.

Natalie Curtis

“My friend and I were travelling to Bangkok for my 35th birthday,” she told Daily Hive. But when they landed, they learned that there was an issue. A woman informed her that she’d have to pay for an aisle wheelchair to exit the plane.

“I told her I [wasn’t] paying for a wheelchair as I had my own,” said Curtis. “The language barrier was extremely hard, everyone was standing around us and nothing was happening.”

Natalie Curtis

She said that a flight attendant offered to carry her to her chair. However, she declined as she “didn’t feel comfortable being carried by a stranger.”

“My friend was also unable due to a knee injury,” said Curtis. “So I decided to crawl off the plane.”

She ended up crawling eight rows to get to her chair and said that flight attendants “did care and felt sorry.”

Curtis describes her experience as “absolutely humiliating” and that Jetstar has reached out to her.

“The airline called me back and were extremely apologetic and offered me a full refund of the flight,” she said, adding that they also offered a gift voucher, which she turned down.

“I will not be flying Jetstar again,” she added.

Her advice to the airline: train employees in assisting people with a disability. And should people find themselves in a similar situation, she said, “Ask for an interpreter or request for a flight manager to help sort out whatever the issue was with the aisle chair.”

After sharing her story, she said her friend was in “absolute shock.” Her friend reached out to local media so Curtis could tell her story. However, according to Curtis, speaking up about her experience has drawn a lot of criticism.

“I have had a lot of negative comments [saying] that I only did it for five minutes of fame, which is certainly not the case,” explained Curtis, adding that she didn’t make up the story and would “never share something so embarrassing.”

“I haven’t been paid a cent and don’t expect money,” she said. “I just don’t want this to ever happen to anyone else.”

A Jetstar Airways representative told Daily Hive that the company does not require payment for the aisle chair and since the airport was busy at the time, an aisle chair wouldn’t have been available for at least 40 minutes after landing.

“We unreservedly apologize to Ms. Curtis for her recent experience while travelling with us,” they stated, adding that they’re looking into the miscommunication that led to the delay of the aisle chair.

“At no point was an aisle chair withheld due to a request for payment,” they continued. “Our customer team has contacted Ms. Curtis to better understand her experience and to offer her a refund, as well as additional compensation.”

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