Says Airline Failed to Provide Assistance On Arrival At Reagan National Airport

A disabled individual says he was forced to crawl off an airplane when United Airlines failed to provide an aisle chair and assistance for him at Ronald Reagan National Airport last week.

DArcee Neal was returning from a speaking engagement about accessible transportation in San Francisco. When his flight landed at the Virginia airport across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., he said he waited for someone from United to come help him off the plane, according to a report appearing on television station WRC. But when no one came, and needing to use the restroom, he crawled up the aisle from his seat about halfway down the airplane to the door leading to the jetway.

United said that it regrets the delay in getting someone onto the plane to help Neal, but he said that it's not uncommon. "Half the time, I feel like airlines treat people with disabilities as a secondary concern," he told the station.

The National Disability Rights Network said complaints about services for passengers with disabilities are up 9 percent in the past year ... over 27,500 in 2014.

National Disability Rights Network spokeswoman Dara Baldwin said the Air Carrier Access Act guarantees that passengers with disabilities are given consistent service.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.ndrn.org