Service that brought a smile to this activist

CHENNAI: Thanks to his past bitter experiences in airlines that had made life difficult for him, the last thing Rajiv Ranjan expected while boarding a flight to the South Korean capital of Seoul was a pleasant surprise. The differently-abled activist says he received c0urteous service in the international carrier -- something which most of our domestic airlines don’t provide.Ranjan says the ground staff from Cathay Pacific walked up to him with a smile, and enquired from him as to what sort of assistance he would require on his flight to Seoul. That was the beginning of a charming experience, says Ranjan, who is the coordinator of the Disability Legislation Unit (Southern India) and general secretary of the Disabled People’s Organisation.“When I was there at the airport on September 3, the ground staff asked me about my wheel chair, whether it was manual or battery-operated. Then, they enquired what kind of support I would require during my flight. They also made a note of my food choices. All these answers were duly filled in a wheelchair assistance form and a copy of the same was given to the flight crew,” he recalls.Indian airliners usually do not allow physically-challenged passengers to use their own wheel chairs citing security reasons. But the Cathay Pacific ground staff allowed Ranjan to use his own wheel chair right up to the door of the aircraft. “Allowing us to use our own personal wheelchair till the doors is a welcome move, because it is easier for us to manoeuvre our own wheel chairs,” says Ranjan.At the transit in Hong Kong, there was a three-hour gap. One of the ground staff dropped Ranjan off in the terminus and stuck a small label with his onward flight number written on it. “At the time of boarding, another person came looking for the label and put me on the aircraft. The same process was repeated on my way back,” says Rajiv.Rajiv Ranjan had helped frame the Civil Aviation Requirement guidelines for the differently-abled. He recently had a bad experience when four of his colleagues and he were denied an aerobridge or ambulift facility while boarding flight AI 540 at the Delhi airport.He also pointed out, “At times, at the security clearance counters of certain private airlines, they ask us (differently-abled) if we have any flying clearance. I don’t understand why such questions should be posed to us.” Ranjan also stressed the importance of sensitisation of ground staff and on-board staff about how to handle differently-abled passengers in all the domestic airliners in India.