Amna Raheel, a specially-abled Pakistani and entrepreneur recently took to social media to share her ‘horrific and humiliating’ experience with Emirates.
Amna narrated the entire incident sharing that she was travelling from Dubai to Karachi, and when checking in to her flight, she was told that her luggage is overweight and that her oxygen concentrator would be counted in as her baggage allowance, despite having a medical certificate.
The certificate states that if a person with a disability is carrying lifesaving equipment with them that would mean they are not allowed to carry any other form of luggage with them including their travel essential items like clothes, shoes, toiletries etc.
She writes:
RANT TIME: THANK YOU EMIRATES FOR THE MOST HUMILITATING AND HIGHLY UNCOOPERATIVE EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE!!!
I was a passenger last night on a flight of Emirates from Dubai to Karachi and I had the absolute WORST EXPERIENCE of my life. I am a person with disabilities, suffering from Muscular Dystrophy and COPD which is a lung condition and requires me to carry my oxygen concentrator with me on trips since it’s a lifesaving equipment and I require it to provide me with oxygen when I am out of breathe.
Last night, when I was checking in for my flight I was told that I was overweight and my oxygen concentrator would be counted in my baggage allowance which was highly absurd since I was carrying a medical certificate with me and also that would mean that if a person with disability is carrying a lifesaving equipment with them that would mean they are not allowed to carry any other form of luggage with them including their travel essential items like clothes, shoes, toiletries etc.
If wheelchair for disabled passengers if free of baggage allowance then a lifesaving medical equipment should be too. I am a frequent traveler and I have NEVER in my 31 years of travel life faced such humiliation by the airport staff. The airport staff at check in was HIGHLY uncooperative and was extremely rude. I was alone with my best friend who had to take care of me and the luggage as well.
They made us open our suitcases and weren’t willing to provide us with a solution or help in anyway. Honestly, more than the baggage count the way we were treated at the Dubai Airport was highly humiliating, they weren’t even willing to listen to us let alone have a proper conversation.
I told them that I want to speak to the supervisor and figure out a solution as I could not just leave my machine or luggage at the airport but they said that the supervisor can not come and we can’t talk to him/her. (1/2)
I mean we were at the special assistance check in counter and if someone who is in a wheelchair with a medical issue was being treated this way then I guess it speaks volumes about the experience and service that Emirates has to offer. To be honest, the staff wasn’t even looking at me or listening to what I was saying like I was an someone to is invisible to their eyes.
Is that how you treat someone with a disability? Are people with disabilities not humans or are we not someone who shouldn’t be spoken to and just disregarded? In the end, I had to leave my entire luggage at the airport in Dubai and fly back with nothing but my machine. Extremely disappointed with you service Emirates. You have lost a loyal customer. Will definitely not flying with Emirates ever again. (2.2)
Social media could not believe that reputed airlines such as Emirates would do such a thing, especially with a young woman with a medical condition. Many users were outraged. One user wrote ‘shame on you Emirates,’ while another shared that they were highly disappointed.
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We’d hope emirates reaches out to Amna and clears the situation soon.
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