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Africa World denies discriminating against passenger with ‘disability’
In a statement issued by AWA, it described the incident as unfortunate and blamed the happening on a series of miscommunication that started when Rita Kirba bought the plane ticket from a travel agent.
AWA stated that the third-party that sold the ticket to Rita did not ask about her physical conditions.
The Airline assured that it is their standard practice “to ask all passengers whether they would need assistance during the reservation process. We find it strange that she was not asked these questions during the reservation process, so we contacted the Travel Agency (AfroWings) to find out why this happened.”
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“This brings us to the fact that Madam Rita should also have notified the agent of her condition for the necessary information to be relayed to the Airline as per the international general rule on the acceptance of Persons with Reduced Mobility(PRMs).”
“We found the service gap to be [due to a] lack of information from the travel agent who sold the ticket to [her] and therefore will address the issue to ensure it does not recur,” AWA assured.
A disabled woman was discriminated against by staff of Africa World Airlines Limited (AWA) at the Kotoka International Airport because they said her crutches she uses were an inconvenience to the Airline.
The 30-year-old Rita Kriba who narrated what happened said she tried to reason with the AWA staff but they failed to allow her board the plane.
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However, AWA in its statement explained that this was because the Aircraft in question had certain limitations that may have comprised safety standards.
“To set the records straight, our aircraft type has structural limitations for carrying certain categories of wheelchair passengers, as such, it is boldly written at all our sales points and in our terms of carriage that we only accept WCHR category (wheelchair passenger who needs assistance on only the ramp) of wheelchair passengers. The purpose is solely for safety reasons during times of emergency.”
AWA added that she “was not in the category of persons with Reduced Mobility we accept on the Embraer Jet 145, and explanations on the procedure were given to her in the presence of her other colleagues, which she understood, per our observation.”
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