I would like to bring to Gulf News’ attention, an incident that happened with my wheelchair-bound wife, when travelling with Airblue from Dubai to Peshawar, Pakistan, on June 23.

At Dubai International airport, we arrived at the Airblue counter and asked for wheelchair assistance, upon which, we were asked to show some medical documents as proof. We provided these right away. But we have been travelling all over the world and have never been asked about medical proof.

A few minutes later, a woman appeared and started talking in a rude and unprofessional manner, and asked irrelevant questions about my wife. When I asked her to lower her voice, she threatened to cancel our booking. I repeatedly requested her to be calm, but she continued bullying me and my wife.

We left the counter and were assisted by airport staff to immigration, but were surprised when, at the boarding gate, the Airblue representative, along with another colleague, stopped us and wanted to confiscate my mobile phone due to their fear of me having a recorded video of her bullying my wife.

I again tried to stay calm, as I did not want to trouble my wife. I know Airblue staff has been very cooperative whenever we have travelled but these two staff members need to be penalised for such inhumane and degrading behaviour. Airblue cannot afford to treat passengers the way we were treated.

From Mr Nasir Ali Khan

Dubai

The management of Air Blue responds:

The airline has investigated the matter at its own end and sought a clarification from Dubai National Air Transport Association (Dnata) also.

The requirement for a medical certificate and query related to an unaccompanied wheelchair bound passenger’s illness is standard airline policy. It is for the safety and comfort of the passenger and to ensure that necessary arrangements are made on board and on arrival.

However, we appreciate the discomfort and annoyance of the passenger and the complainant and have apologised accordingly. The matter has been resolved to the satisfaction of Mr Khan.

We feel privileged that they chose Airblue and we look forward to welcoming them on board as happy customers.

Mr Khan responds:

Yes, I was approached by the country manager of Airblue with a promise that they will be working more on their customer service, especially improving their behaviour with people who have limited mobility. I would like to thank Gulf News for its commendable service to the community.

(Process initiation: July 9. Response from organisation: July 16. Reader confirmation: July 18.)

Editor’s note: Do you have similar issues that you would like to raise with us? You can write to us at readers@gulfnews.com.