BCA WANTS TO HEAR YOUR EXPERIENCES OF AIR TRAVEL

Introduction

There are many airline issues concerning people who are blind or vision impaired that require BCA’s advocacy. These issues include the use of guide dogs on aircraft and the lack of meet and assist resources for people who are blind or vision impaired allocated by the airlines. While BCA has been fighting these issues on its own merits, it has also joined the Accessible Airlines Steering Committee (AASC) which was formed during September 2006. This committee consists of a broad range of disability organisations. The aim of the committee is to develop a consistent national approach to the issues facing people with a disability undertaking air travel in Australia that will provide clear objectives and amendments for the review of the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport for 2007.

To aid the work of this reference group, participating organisations have been asked to gather case studies from their members relating to their experiences of perceived discrimination when undertaking air travel.

These case studies will be passed onto the AASC in a non-identifiable form to demonstrate, as part of the committee’s advocacy, the number of incidents of discrimination that are occurring against people with disabilities when undertaking air travel. For legal reasons, specific airlines cannot be identified and we ask that you de-identify names and other identifying details before you send your case studies through. We would like to protect your identity too.

What to put in your Case Study

Your case study should succinctly describe the event where you believed an act of discrimination took place, when undertaking air travel, due to your vision impairment. Again, due to legal reasons, please do not identify the airline or include your own name or other identifying features

Case Study Example

I am blind and I have a guide dog with me when I travel. I booked a flight with a domestic airline to travel with a group of other blind people from Sydney to Adelaide on an early morning flight. The booking was made as a group booking through a travel agent. However, when we arrived at the airport and attempted to check-in we were told by the airline's staff that their airline was not able to carry more than two guide dogs on any flight at any one time. As we had five guide dogs between us the airline refused to let us all travel together, and rather made two of our party wait for the next available flight and one person wait for the next available flight after that. We wrote a letter of complaint to the airline, but were not really satisfied with their response.

Your Privacy

Any case study forwarded to BCA for the purpose of being used by the reference group will not identify you in any way. To help us in this task, please do not use your name in your case study.

BCA Airline Case Study Procedure

Please send your case study through BCA’s online policy input section (case study).