A bad look for a Spanish charter airline after flight attendants not only indifferently refused to help a disabled passenger to the lavatory but openly mocked her.
Disabled Passenger Told To Wear A Diaper, Refused Help To Lavatory By Flight Attendants, Forcing Her To Drag Herself To Toilet
Jennie Berry is paralyzed from the waist down and was traveling on Spanish charter airline AlbaStar. Before the flight, Berry was driven to the aircraft and then wheeled onboard using a special wheelchair designed to fit down aircraft aisles.
Many airlines stock a wheelchair onboard precisely for this scenario. United Airlines, for example, notes that specially-designed wheelchairs are available onboard all jets with 60 seats or more to provide help reaching the lavatory.
It is not clear whether AlbaStar failed to stock one onboard or whether flight attendants were simply indifferent, but Berry, an accessibility rights activist, shared on TikTok that she was forced to drag herself down the aisle to use the lavatory.
@wheelie_good_life
Here’s how I had to get to the toilet on my recent Albastar Airlines flight. They told me I should wear a nappy and wee in my seat instead of having an aisle chair onboard…
♬ original sound – Jennie Berry
But that’s not all:
- There were seats available close to the lavatory at the front of the plane, but she was refused them and told she must remain at her assigned seat in the center of the aircraft
- The crew mocked her when she said she had to use the restroom, scolding her for not wearing a diaper
- While Berry dragged herself to the lavatory, the crew indifferently continued onboard food, beverage, and duty-free sales
Let’s be clear – based on this video, she was traveling with her partner and potentially the person who took the video. In that sense, dragging herself on the floor could be construed as being done for maximum dramatic effect rather than out of pure necessity. We also do not have any recording of the flight attendants openly ridiculing Berry.
That said, there seems to be no excuse under European Law and basic human decency for the way she was treated. Carriers must make “all reasonable efforts” to provide seating for disabled passengers. That may not mean first class upgrades or even upgrades to extra legroom seats, but I would think under the circumstances seating Berry upfront would have been reasonable…it’s not like she was making up her disability.
AlbaStar has apologized for the incident, though denied that flight attendants requested that Berry wear a diaper.
CONCLUSION
The whole point of legal protection for disabled people is precisely situations like this. Berry was robbed of her dignity by making a spectacle of herself after AlbaStar failed to load a wheelchair onboard her flight. Since most personal wheelchairs do not fit down an airplane aisle, every airline should stock a special chair for those rare occasions when someone in need may require one. When we treat others the way we want to be treated, society is better able to flourish.
I remember a fat, ugly, white blonde old geezer did the same thing and half the US loved it. So dont see why these flight attendants need to be held to a higher standard.
I know you’re a troll, but it’s pretty sad that the meaning of life for you to is to spew hate on a travel blog. I guess you went AWOL last month to recharge on haterade or go on a monthly rotation between using the names Debit or Random gawande
But I think I know who s/he was referring to, and I think it was true, right? I mean, who really spewed hate? The person who mocks someone with disabilities, or the person who calls them out for it?
Using ageist and fat-shaming terms to call out an ableist isn’t really doing anything especially when this post has zero mention about said person. Not everything needs to be political and hateful and I’m calling it out, even though I do not like the person who’s being mentioned by Random gawande, and you comments about saying that it’s true is just feeding the troll.
Look at Random gawande’s previous comments the past year, and you’ll see what I mean, like his anti-Semitism, getting rid of a certain population, talking about racist things against black people, etc.
Your objections are noted.
Now if you really are a black man, as you claim to be, please use as much energy as you use trolling me, in telling your extended black family, friends and larger community of all other people like you to stop popping out kids and to stop at 2. You sound somewhat intelligent, so use some good scientific and civic reasonss to convince them how they need to think about society at large and the collective future instead of just their little members.
Some black dudes really deserve to be castrated considering how many kids they pop out. Remember you can make more impact in real life than by harassing an online poster that you have never met. Good luck.
@Random Gawande Trolls like you in the comments say that I’m not black whenever I call people like you out, so it doesn’t really affect me; it proves that I live rent free in your head and that y’all are racists.
You also said pretty racist and derogatory stuff against my community and it’s hilarious how you prove me right. I’m sure you’ll get far in life writing racist and hateful stuff on a travel blog from your parents’ basement, .
Shouldn’t talk about your mother that way
As always, there’s two sides to every story.
Ms Berry could have reserved a seat near the front or very back. I have urinary issues and book an aisle seat near a bathroom (whether front, very back, or near the middle on some jets); I plan ahead. Also, did she alert the airline in advance to assist with her seating needs? It would be interesting if Ms Berry has posted other similar situations.
Also, as alluded to in the story, Ms Berry was accompanied by someone who may have waived-off assistance from the F/A’s to focus with filming.
The numbers here don’t add up…..
There are a variety of reasons why someone cannot plan ahead. Maybe a death in the family. Maybe a medical reason. Maybe she was rebooked onto this flight from another flight due to a cancellation or scheduling conflict. It’s possible she may have alerted the airline to her needs, and they simply ignored it.
Did she politely request someone to swap with her???
Also, I took a look at the airline’s web site and there is a page devoted specifically to Special Assistance.
Crazy story.
BUT why did the one filming not do anything to help her????????????? Why is it more important to have a video of an incident than helping a disabled passenger???? Especially if it’s a partner.
WHAT A CRAZY WORLD WE LIVE IN. People are filming everything from accidents to terror attacks, and they don’t even think for one second of giving a hand to the one suffering….
Matthew, I love your candidly fair and balanced approach to these stories (I’m sorry for the inadvertent reference to FN!). I could read your articles on any topic and know an intelligent person, not a bot, wrote them and actually thought about them before writing them.
If her companion was helping her get up onto the toilet – then WHO was filming? In that video also I did not see anyone offered to help her as she was going down the aisle. Not one person reached out to her or stood up to help. Not one.
And as far as her not getting a seat close to a bathroom, perhaps by the time she booked all those seats were taken and you don’t just disrupt people who have booked previously so someone can take their seat. As mentioned there is a lot of the story missing here. A lot of assumptions yet it’s pretty sad to see this regardless of the situation.
For what it’s worth I wouldn’t even take my shoes off to walk down the floor of an airplane, let alone have it all over my clothes and HANDS! Makes me wanna barf just thinking about what’s on that floor!
I agree with other folks on the comments section. If someone could film what was going on, then clearly it is possible to help her and it’s sad that no one helped this lady out.
Side comment, but it’s outrageous how Malik gets called “not black” whenever he calls trolls out in as a means to somewhat moderate the comment section while abiding to Matthew’s rules. This is like the fourth time the past few months Malik has been called “not black.” That is already very racist to say that but then Random gawande goes on to repeat what Margaret Sanger and what current neo-Nazis said to black people.
I’d like proof that it is practical for airlines to have a skinny wheelchair on flights. None is provided. Fact is that a large percentage of the disabled have become so due to obesity, and they barely fit into regular wheelchairs. What then? It’s easy to talk about accommodation if you aren’t the one providing it.
Did she squirt her fishy juices from her salty clam?
She’s an activist. This was planned and executed. Her partner was filming her sliding down the aisle. Pathetic. I bet everyone was just staring at them wondering what was happening. Likely never asked for help or to sit near the bathroom. All for views.
If that is the case, I will call her out as a callous cow.
If you think about it, airplanes in general are one of the least accessible travel options available. That able bodied people put up with being crammed into tight spaces is bad enough, but somehow they escape the requirements that most every public space in the world has for wheelchair accessible access.
While this video and the incident does seem to have been played up a bit to have greater effect, the reality is that it should be unacceptable that anyone pay hundreds of dollars to be treated like cattle being hauled to slaughter yet we allow it. Then we wonder why someone lashes out at a stranger for putting their seat back or taking too much leg room or all the overhead compartment space.
Why, oh why, must you bring United Airlines into this story? The policy you cited is a Federal Aviation Regulation (respecting the ADA). I imagine you mean well, but don’t associate a company that had absolutely nothing to do with this hot mess.
Like Mariah Carey sang, “Why’re you so obsessed with me?” *lol*
Related to this story or not, different cultures treat disabled people differently and the Latin culture is quite Cruel to them. Perhaps because family is associated with the Latin culture and everybody should be healthy and able in a family.