Car Deals

Grand Rapids, MI, United States (AHN) – A man with cerebral palsy was deemed “too disabled” to fly alone by U.S. Airways personnel and wheeled off a flight he had already boarded. The avid flier who claims this has never happened before calls it a “flat out issue of a civil rights.”

Johnnie Tuitel, a wheelchair bound motivational speaker who has flown for over 20 years was on a Sept. 23rd flight out of Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) when he was asked to deplane.

He was initially on the flight headed to Kansas City, M. to speak at the 2010 National Self Advocacy Conference.

Initially worried something was wrong with his family he was shocked to find out that a U.S. Airways agent felt he was too disabled to fly by himself. Surprisingly the man who had just been assisted on the plane was pulled off the flight for “safety reasons.”

U.S. Airways’ policy for disabled passengers seemingly supports the worker’s move.

“For safety-related reasons, if a passenger has a mobility impairment so severe that a person is unable to physically assist in his or her own evacuation of the aircraft, U.S. Airways requires that the passenger travel with a safety assistant,” says the airline’s web site.

He flew out two days later on a Delta flight solo. However he missed his speech at the conference.

Tuitel says he has logged countless miles over his near quarter century of flying. In the last two years alone he’s accumulated nearly 500,000 miles and was never asked to have a companion accompany him in the air.

Tuitel and others who heard the shocking story believe the incident is far more egregious than just the “embarrassment” and inconvenience it caused the traveler. Many believe it is in fact criminal and violated the American Disabilities Act.

Tuitel believes it was a personal decision by the agent who simply changed his mind about Tuitel’s disability when he seated him on the plane.

There will likely be some legal action against the airline.

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