Airline apologizes when an eight-year boy is forced to wait four hours or more for his wheelchair

“We can confirm that Gatwick Airport was temporarily closed due to the snow which meant that the baggage handler experienced severe delays in offloading their luggage,” a representative of Jet2 told Insider.fotokon/iStock
The family of a boy had to wait for four hours before their wheelchair was returned to them at the airport. A spokesperson for Jet2 stated that they would like to apologize to Mr Hudgell’s family.

Jet2 is apologizing to a family that had to wait for four hours to have their son’s wheelchair returned by the budget airline.

According to the BBC, Tony Hudgell was traveling with his mother from Lapland in Finland to pick up her eight-year-old son’s wheelchair.

The family was initially seated on the plane, but after being helped to deplane they were allowed to leave and wait at Gatwick baggage reclaim.

“We didn’t care about our baggage. We could have returned the next day. Paula Hudgell, a BBC reporter, said that we couldn’t leave the airport as Tony’s wheelchair was not available.

Hudgell shared her story on Twitter. She said she was shocked at the lack of assistance her son received while he waited.

In a Twitter thread, she stated that her son was forced onto the cold floor by baggage reclaim because there weren’t enough seats.

According to the BBC, the wheelchair arrived at the hospital in the early hours on December 12, after a wait of 4 1/2 hours.

Gatwick Airport spokesperson said that they were aware of the situation and sincerely apologize for any distress caused to the Hudgell families. This is unacceptable. We have raised the matter with Jet2 and Menzies, their ground handlers, as a matter urgent.

They stated that they experienced severe disruptions due to snow Sunday night. The runway was closed for two hours while we cleared the area and made it safe to aircraft. This resulted in many cancellations and delayed flights.

Insider was told by a Jet2 representative that they would like to apologize to Mr Hudgell’s family for the delay in receiving his wheelchair, and any inconvenience caused.

They stated that they could confirm that Gatwick Airport was temporarily closed because of snow. This meant that the baggage handler had to wait for a long time to load luggage. This included Mr Hudgell’s wheelchair.

Insider reached out to Paula Hudgell, and Ground Handler Menzies but they did not immediately reply.

Many wheelchair users complain of being overlooked and mistreated when they fly.

Many wheelchair users reported having a difficult time traveling last summer.

Business Insider has the original article.
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By: bnolan@insider.com (Beatrice Nolan)
Title: Airline apologizes after an eight-year-old boy was forced to wait more than 4 hours for his wheelchair
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/airline-jet2-gatwick-wheelchair-wait-boy-2022-12
Published Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2022 11:35:27 +0000