An Irish wheelchair user paying a visit to Sweden to celebrate his daughter’s birthday had to crawl off the plane at Gothenburg’s Landvetter airport after being told that it would be at least an hour before assistance would arrive to disembark him.
Adrian Keogh arrived on a delayed Ryanair flight from Ireland at around 11 PM on April 29th together with family members, but there was no sign of the assistance he needed to get off the plane, and he was told that because his flight had been delayed, he had missed his assistance slot.
“I needed to go to the toilet, to be honest with you. The plane had been delayed and I wasn’t going to be able to make another hour. I didn’t want to wait another hour, at a minimum, so I said to the stewards ‘would it be OK if I crawl out?'” Adrian told Irish In Sweden.
“I booked a flight with Ryanair, any fare you book when you want assistance doesn’t cost you extra, but I chose to book priority with the assistance as well, just for the peace of mind.”
While exiting the plane, Adrian encouraged his brother to take a photograph of him crawling down the steps to his wheelchair.
“I was just like, take it, take it. I’m not doing this to be vain or for my profile, it’s just to show what people in wheelchairs and with disabilities have to go through.”
In a statement to Irish In Sweden, Ryanair reiterated Adrian’s point that assistance for wheelchair users is free of charge, adding:
Special assistance at Landvetter Airport is managed by a third-party provider – not Ryanair. We regret that Landvetter Airport failed to provide Special Assistance to this passenger upon arrival on 29 Apr and we are working with Landvetter Airport to ensure this does not recur.
Adrian also revealed that the reason he was given for the lack of assistance changed a number of times before he decided to take matters into his own hands.
Asked to explain the incident by Irish In Sweden, airport operator Swedavia provided the following statement:
Swedavia regret Mr. Keogh’s experience at Göteborg Landvetter Airport on Saturday
We followed our usual airport procedures but unfortunately due to a series of unforeseen circumstances the assistance took a while to arrive, which led to a slightly longer waiting time. The assistance was confirmed and en route but unfortunately delayed, and not up to our usual standard of service but by no means “forgotten”.
According to our own information, assistance was on site just under 30 minutes after the plane landed. This delay is of course something that we regret and we are looking into the incident more closely.
Assistance for wheelchair users and the disabled is an important service that Swedavia and Göteborg Landvetter Airport provide to facilitate and make flying accessible to everyone. Everyone should feel welcome and safe flying to or from Landvetter. In this case, the assistance regrettably took a little longer than usual.
Again, we are very sorry for Mr. Keoghs inconvenience.
Despite the humiliation of having to crawl off the plane, former Gothenburg GAA footballer Adrian said that it did not prevent him from enjoying his daughter’s birthday, but that he hoped this would be the last time he had to experience such a situation.
“We want to be all equal, no matter who we are, equally is important, and hopefully this is the last time me or anybody like me has to go through anything and put it up on social media,” he said.
The full interview with Adrian will be published on the Irish In Sweden podcast on Monday, May 8.