Cheap and not very cheerful airline fined £42,000 for discrimination against paraplegic woman
Easyjet has been fined £42,000 for ordering a disabled woman off a plane.
The airline told wheelchair-user Marie-Patricia Hoarau she was a “security risk” as she had no helper on a return Paris-Nice flight.
But the firm had let her fly alone on the first journey.
The budget airline appealed against a Paris court’s discrimination ruling last year. But it has now been ordered to pay 10 times the original fine.
Ms Hoarau, 41, a paraplegic since a cycling accident 20 years ago, told the court how she was allowed to travel unaccompanied on her outbound flight from Nice to Paris in March 2010.
But when she boarded the plane to return to Nice, she was ordered back to the check-in desk because she did not have a ‘helper’.
A fellow passenger offered to take on the role, but cabin crew refused because they had not checked in together.
She was taken off the plane and given a free ticket on the next flight, while check-in staff found another passenger willing to accompany her.
Ms Hoarau said: “I was allowed to board the plane alone, but once I was inside, they told me I couldn’t travel because I didn’t have a helper.
“I try to cope with this disability every day and being ordered off like that in front of my fellow passengers was a slap in the face.
“I felt humiliated and like a pariah who has no place in society.”
She added: “I am still waiting for a personal apology from Easyjet .
EasyJet said there was “no intent to discriminate”.
Source : Mirror News , UK ; 12th Feb 2014
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