Despite a video evidence showing officials of Dana Air refusing to board a woman because she is a wheelchair user, the airline has maintained that its actions were not discriminatory.
In the video, the Dana Air staff insisted that the woman will not be boarded because she is on wheelchair as they do not have the facility to cater for her.
“We do not have facility for wheelchair that cannot walk….I am an employee and I cannot change anything” said the two staff captured in the video.
Dana Air through its official twitter handle @DanaAir confirmed that the video is real and that his Duty Manager was clearly captured in the video, but the passenger was later barded on the flight from Lagos to Port Harcourt on Sunday, December 13th 2020.
Unfortunately, the staff in the video you posted is our Lagos Duty Manager and this incident happened in Lagos today. How did Abuja come into this? the passenger in the wheelchair flew to Ph with us today. Your reporter should know better
— Dana Airlines Ltd. (@DanaAir) December 13, 2020
Other passengers with disabilities who have experienced one form of discrimination or the other from DanaAir also tweeted their experiences.
In 2018, same airline pulled a stunt with me.
I came online, they started calling me through organisers of the event I went for
Hey @DanaAir in 2020.
Really????— Denike (@denikeoyetunde) December 13, 2020
I experienced similar thing on my flight from Abuja to Lagos last week. I was told I won’t be boarded because I’m blind and traveling alone. It took so much intervention before I was boarded. Please address this and not just to debunk the information, we are witnesses.
— Adebukola Adebayo (@Adebayo2000) December 13, 2020
Responding, Dana Air apologized for their actions but however refereed the passengers to the ‘terms on our ticket’.
Sincere apologies for any inconveniences caused but kindly read the terms of the ticket and kindly channel the thoughts to the regulators
— Dana Airlines Ltd. (@DanaAir) December 13, 2020
Some twitter users insisted that the action of Dana Air is discriminatory whether or not the passenger was allowed to board after public outcry.
Whether she was boarded later or never, our stand is that, the incident in the video shouldn’t have happened at all and @DanaAir ‘s policy can never answer should never supersedes our law in Nigeria.@Nnimmob
— Adebukola Adebayo (@Adebayo2000) December 13, 2020
What sort of irresponsible policy is this? And you’re even bold enough to state it in public. When persons living with disability speak about discrimination and a lack of inclusion, here is all the evidence you need… https://t.co/YJ0cjiXngc
— Bros Iwi (@TooSiQ) December 13, 2020
@DanaAir should we even have a situation where the airline staff will say they have a policy not to carry persons with disabilities on their flight @denikeoyetunde @DRACNigeria @TooSiQ @TobilobaAjayi1 @nubianhottie
— Crystal Chigbu (@Xrystalc) December 13, 2020
@danaair video evidence dont lie. I can release the full clips and your staff on counter was fully covered when he said it’s your policy. Stop covering what is not. Appeal and move on. You only allowed her on moral ground after people screamed at your staff #StopDiscrimination
— Rasak Adekoya (@iamrasakadekoya) December 13, 2020
Dana Air has however insisted that it does not have any discriminatory policies and that all requests and feedbacks be channeled to the regulators.
There are no discriminatory policies. Again, Dana Air will never discriminate against any of its guests. All requests/feedbacks can be channeled to the regulators. Thank you
— Dana Airlines Ltd. (@DanaAir) December 13, 2020