Dear Fred,
I am so sorry, and it is so sad to hear that this horrible experience
occurred to you! Being partially blind I would say I have not had such an
extended encounter but I have heard from a couple of totally blind
colleagues of experiences closer to that. That must have been horrible as
you explain! Well, I have in the past year complained to the airline over
their food in the cabin and poor airport acoustics but I did not get any
response.
I support that you launch an official complaint, but most importantly and
for purposes of institutionalisation, we do a petition to the African
Airlines Association, AFRAA; www.afraa.org and the International Civil
Aviation Organisation, ICAO; www.icao.int over this.
Kindest regards,
*Martin Osang'iri Okiyo*
*Nairobi, Kenya*
*Email: martinokiyo@xxxxxxxxx <martinokiyo@xxxxxxxxx> *
*Skype: okiyomartin*
*"Purpose for improvement, and purpose for increment and diversity!"*
*IBSA Africa Chairman; wwwibsasport.org <http://wwwibsasport.org>*
*ICEVI Africa Region Coordinator; www.icevi.org <http://www.icevi.org>*
On 18 May 2016 at 07:34, Fred Haga <fredhaga2013@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Dear Friends,
I recently used Ethiopian Airlines (ET) between Nairobi and Addis for
the first time and would like to share with you my experience.
1. I had to squeeze myself in order to fit the seat belt after maximum
adjustment; this was both ways of my trip. Not sure though whether it
was the same aircraft.
2. After check-in in Addis, I was asked to seat and wait for boarding
time. The ‘person’ who showed me where to sit apparently was not
Airline staff and asked some money for ‘Porter services’. I am used to
being assisted right from the point of check-in by Airline staff,
especially when I have indicated during booking that I will be
travelling by myself and will need assistance.
3. Waiting for the gates to be open where I was seated, no one came at
all for me; I got concerned when there was less than 30 minutes left
to departure time and caused. I had been waiting for more than 2
hours. Finally someone in the crowd came (a fellow traveller) and
showed me the ET desk. They had completely forgotten about me and we
had to run around frantically. I did not hear any call on the public
address for this missing passenger who had already checked in! I later
confirmed that there had been none anyway. There were no apologies
either!
4. As I was being taken to the plane, the lady guiding me insisted
that she had to hold my cane in order to lead me! We ended up having a
row as to how I would like to be guided. She must have thought I was
out of my mind or had indecent thoughts!
5. There was no attention given to me in terms of safety briefings,
toilet and summon button orientation or emergency practices. As much
as it is usually the same routine more or less, and even sometimes
boring, I am used to being given some briefing, regardless of how
superficial it is. It makes one feel that someone cares. Very
reassuring for me!
6. After landing in JKIA, I waited and waited (this is usually common
anyway), when someone finally appeared to help me find my way, I was
so relieved! However, it turns out that this was just one of the
passengers who had been asked by the cabin crew to help me out! I
found this undignified! The passenger was very helpful and friendly
though but really, this is not his work!
I am sharing this because I wish to hear your experiences with ET. Was
it just an unlucky day or is this common? I am definitely filing a
complaint with the Airline.
Most of my travel experiences with other airlines have been very
different, some even pleasant. However, I have heard of horror travel
stories by PWDs before. Maybe this was my turn!
Kind regards,
Fred Haga.
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