Cape Town - The director of Deafblind South Africa says there are “huge” grounds for legal action against British Airways’s local operator Comair after the airline refused to fly a deaf-and-blind priest to Joburg at the weekend.
The Cape Argus reported on Monday that Father Cyril Axelrod was on his way to give a church service in Joburg when he was told that he could not fly alone. South African-born Axelrod lives in London but is currently in the country to work.
Axelrod told the Argus the experience left him humiliated especially because he had flown alone before without problems.
Phillip Dobson, of Deafblind South Africa, said this was not the first time this had happened. A deaf man from Worcester had a similar experience two years ago.” Two years ago, a similar incident happened to Hennie Randall, who is a resident of the Institute for Blind in Worcester. Hennie was assisted by a friend with the booking of his ticket with money he had saved up.”
The airline contacted Randall and told him about the policy before cancelling his booking. He was booked on a Kulula flight, also run by Comair.
The Institute for Blind in Worcester intervened on Randall’s behalf.
Dobson said: “Comair then upgraded his booking to that of British Airways and Hennie could fly alone to Johannesburg.”
On Monday, Shaun Pozyn, marketing manager for British Airways, said they were currently in discussion with Axelrod to see how they could accommodate him in future. - Cape Argus