Dad blasts Aer Lingus as daughter forced to leave wheelchair batteries behind for Christmas

The father of a disabled woman who was disallowed from bringing her wheelchair’s batteries on her flight home for Christmas has demanded that the airline “get with the times”.

Niamh, the daughter of Gerard Creaner from Cork, is wheelchair-bound and relies on the mobility of her automatic chair for get around.

CorkBeo reports that before getting on a flight back home from London Heathrow Airport for Christmas, Niamh was informed that she would not be permitted to bring the wheelchair’s batteries on board as she had not given airline staff advance notice.

Despite having documents to show the batteries were safe for travel, Dad Gerard said the family were left with no choice but to leave them behind.

The family arranged for a taxi to have Niamh’s gear brought to a friend’s property in London in the hope they could be picked up in two weeks when Niamh was due to return.

However, the family are claiming that her independence over the festive period will be lost. They are urging Aer Lingus to make changes to prevent the same fate affecting other families of disabled people travelling home this Christmas.

Speaking on the incident, an Aer Lingus spokesperson said: “For safe transport of a battery, it is policy by airlines that passengers must advise that they will travel with a battery for medical devices in advance of travel.”

Gerard says he’s furious with the situation – confused about what he feels is a ‘sudden rule change’ as Niamh has flown with many airlines before and never had any issues.

He said: “For 20 years they’ve not been asking for this info, and suddenly they decide to ask for it the week before Christmas.

Niamh needs the wheelchair batteries for independent mobility, otherwise she needs to be manually pushed

“I was left with an extremely upset daughter last night, and it’s a terrible start to the holidays. She can move around the home okay as she has walking sticks and there are bars around the house.

“But she doesn’t have the independence to go off by herself. If we go to Mahon Point for example, or do our Christmas Eve trip to Patrick’s Street, we’ll have to be pushing her because her arms don’t have the strength.”

Replacing the batteries for Niamh’s two weeks back in Ireland would cost €2,000.

Gerard accepts that the airline staff were simply “doing their jobs”, but believes that the debacle is down to a training issue, and he would like to see all airlines take a more streamlined approach.

Niamh on the Spanish Steps in Rome

“When you buy your ticket with other airlines, they ask if you’re going to be travelling with a wheelchair, and you tick ‘yes’. Then they send you a quick two-minute email where you answer some questions and it’s job done.

“We’ve never been asked these questions before with Aer Lingus. There might be something buried on their website, but we’ve been travelling for years with no issues.

“They need to have a proper system in place for dealing with people with disabilities. We know we’re not the only ones who’re going to have trouble with this either.

“All I want is to flag it to help other people travelling home for Christmas.”

It’s understands that the Creaner family has been contacted by Aer Lingus and that every effort is being made to return the batteries and resolve the situation.

‌Join the Irish Mirror’s breaking news service on WhatsApp. Click this link to receive breaking news and the latest headlines direct to your phone. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.