Polish airline LOT apologises to disabled BBC journalist forced to crawl to toilet

Poland’s national airline, LOT, has apologised to a BBC journalist who was forced to crawl on the floor of an aircraft to reach the toilet because there were no wheelchairs on board.

“Wow. It’s 2024 and I’ve just had to crawl along the floor of this LOT Polish airline to get to the toilet during a flight back from Warsaw as ‘we don’t have onboard wheelchairs. It’s airline policy’,” wrote Frank Gardner, the BBC’s security correspondent. “If you’re disabled and you can’t walk this is just discriminatory.”

The journalist – who has used a wheelchair since being left partially paralysed after being shot by al-Qaida gunmen while reporting in Saudi Arabia in 2004 – shared an image showing his legs on the floor of the aircraft, which was flying from Warsaw to London.

In a further tweet, Gardner added that: “In fairness to the cabin crew, they were as helpful and apologetic as they could be. Not their fault, it’s the airline. Won’t be flying LOT again until they join the 21st century.”

In a separate message responding to a comment, Gardner said that “all [airlines] I’ve flown with in recent years” had wheelchairs on board. He noted that such wheelchairs can be folded up and stored in overhead lockers.

While there have been some improvements in recent years, disabled access is often limited in Poland. In 2021, the infrastructure ministry admitted that Just 29 out of 526 railway stations in Poland (5.5%) were fully adapted to the needs of disabled people.

After Gardner’s posts on social media – which drew widespread criticism of LOT and were reported in the British media – the airline issued a statement to Polish media outlets.

“We are very sorry for the experience that Mr Frank Gardner had during his last flight with us,” wrote LOT. “We sincerely apologise for the discomfort caused by the lack of a wheelchair on board.”

The airline explained that, while wheelchairs are currently available on long-haul aircraft such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, they are not available on short-haul flights.

“We understand how important accessibility is and are currently actively testing solutions to soon equip short-haul aircraft with wheelchairs for moving around the board,” they added. “We make every effort to ensure a comfortable and dignified journey for all passengers.”

Main image credit: BriYYZ/Flickr (under CC BY-SA 2.0)

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.