We heard a very upsetting story from a reader called Joyce, whose 88-year-old husband has dementia and has difficulty walking. Despite the challenges they are dealing with, the couple still like to travel overseas together.
She says that three years ago while holidaying in Nice they bought a wheeled walking aid, but that on the flight home it went missing, and they were told by the Aer Lingus special assistance team “that there was no point hanging around the airport any longer, but to go home and keep checking with the airport to see if/when it arrived”.
A few days and several phone calls later, Joyce was told by Aer Lingus that if she “was willing to take any similar walker, to pop out to the airport, as there were hundreds in lost property – I did this, and after a couple of hours’ wait I did get our own walker back… hassle, but success!” But that is not central to Joyce’s current concerns.
In 2023 the couple bought a mobility scooter “and were assured it was acceptable, with notice, by all airlines. So in September last year we travelled to Nice, with a “special assistance letter confirming flight acceptance, and it worked reasonably well out of Dublin (some confusion, but quickly sorted), but once we arrived in Nice there was one hour searching the airport for the scooter. I knew by my Apple Tracker it was at the airport and eventually we were reunited, and on departure there was an issue which was eventually sorted but not easy, again hassle, but success.”
It was a different story this June, when the couple set off for Nice again with their confirmation letter from Aer Lingus that the mobility scooter was acceptable.
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“It was all good at Dublin, but it was again difficult to find the scooter at Nice Airport but, with the previous experience, I had some idea of where to look,” she says.
It was “stressful”, but nothing like the homeward journey at the end of June.
‘When we got to the oversize area, I was informed that the staff had bad backs and couldn’t help me lift it on the belt – perhaps two or three feet off the ground’
— Joyce, Irish Times reader
The couple were first in the queue for the afternoon flight, but were “nearly an hour dealing with the check-in lady. She read the letter over and over, she took photos of the scooter, she called dear knows who but after about 30 minutes the people behind us, understandably, began to get cross asking me what was going on – and my poor husband was getting more and more distressed by the moment. How I kept it together I will never know, I was in tears!”
Eventually, ground crew decided the scooter could not come to the plane steps, and Joyce was told she would have to take it to oversized luggage and find a helper with a wheelchair to assist her husband as they made their way through the airport.
But worse was to come.
“When we got to the oversize area, I was informed that the staff had bad backs and couldn’t help me lift it on the belt – perhaps two or three feet off the ground. I had to go find help as there was no way I could do this on my own.
“Once sorted we had to make our way to the plane, passing a very long Nice/Dublin queue still checking in due to our ‘time wasting’. In the end, my husband boarded five minutes before departure time. The flight was then delayed by two hours, as the pilot explained luggage had not arrived from the departure hall and we had missed our slot.”
Joyce says she had to endure “a lot of negative looks and comments about our part in the delay. It was horrible and very stressful. I have written to Aer Lingus many times since July 1st trying to get any sort of explanation [but have had] nothing back, although I have been promised a call back within 72 hours. That was a week ago.
“Our tickets cost €800, although booked months before the fly date! I have now had to cancel pre-booked accommodation for September, as I can’t afford the chance this might happen again. People with disabilities should never be treated in this manner. It is humiliating and not what I expect from our national airline.”
We contacted the airline and received the following statement.
“Aer Lingus Customer Care team has contacted the customer to apologise for the experience at Nice Airport and has offered the customer a voucher as a gesture of goodwill. A baggage belt incident at the airport on the day of travel this June unfortunately led to unforeseen complications. We acknowledge the stress caused to the customer and apologise for the anxiety which she experienced.”
