Airblue staff asks parents to leave 13-year-old son with Down Syndrome at airport, allows him to travel later

Airblue airline refused to allow a child with Down Syndrome to board a plane. The incident took place on March 13 at Peshawar Airport.

The Karachi-based family of 11 members, including a Down Syndrome child was boarding a plane when the ground staff refused to fly with a differently-abled child.

“I recently boarded a flight of Airblue (PA 603) from Peshawar to Karachi and I would like to share my shocking experience. My son, 13, a child with Down’s Syndrome, who is quite well behaved and mannered by nature and has travelled by air as well as other transportation for up to 15 hours at a time without giving us any hindrance was also accompanying me on the flight,” Samina Mahmood, the mother of the child, said in a Facebook post.

“Just as we were boarding, a ground staff member asked me that as my child has special needs (as Down’s persons are often identifiable facially) would he misbehave on the plane or cause any other trouble? I was confused as to why she asked me this at all but reassured her my boy won’t be a problem. She then informed a superior of hers, and the superior officer outright told me that I will have to leave my child here at the airport as they will not allow him to board the plane because he might be a nuisance,” she added.

“One of our ground staff checked on the child as he made some loud noises,” the airline stated as per Samaa. “As per SOP staff inquired if he was feeling good to travel,” the statement added.

The airline further said that parents “took offense” and the staff member “apologised” there and then. “The family boarded and travelled,” it added. The airline said that an “apology call” was made to the passenger and they were assured that the airline will “improve on training and service level” of staff further.