Air India responded to allegations that an 82-year-old woman sustained injuries due to the airline's alleged failure to provide a pre-booked wheelchair at Delhi Airport.
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00:00News that's coming in at the moment, a woman has now claimed that her 82-year-old grandmother
00:05was left injured, this after Air India allegedly failed to provide a pre-booked wheelchair
00:10at the Delhi airport, which compelled the woman to walk before she finally collapsed.
00:15Parul has now detailed how her grandmother, who is a widow of a decorated left-hand journal,
00:20had confirmed a wheelchair booking.
00:22She was travelling from Delhi to Bengaluru on the 4th of March.
00:26But upon reaching the airport, no wheelchair was provided despite repeated requests being
00:30made to the Air India staff.
00:32The airport health desk and even Indigo personnel were requested repeatedly to spare a wheelchair
00:39but they refused to give it.
00:40With no other option left, the elderly woman attempted to walk across the three parking
00:44lanes at Terminal 3.
00:46Despite struggling, she was still not offered any kind of help or support.
00:50Eventually, her legs gave way and she collapsed near the Air India premium economy counter.
00:55Parul is now alleging no staff members stepped in to help the family or even to check for
01:00medical aid themselves.
01:04This is a shocking case of negligence which has now come to the fore.
01:08An elderly lady, she had booked a flight from Delhi and when she reached the airport, even
01:14though they had already pre-booked the wheelchair, upon reaching the airport and despite repeatedly
01:19requesting the Air India staff for a wheelchair, no wheelchair was given.
01:24The lady attempted to walk across the three parking lanes at Terminal 3 but she was struggling
01:29and she was not offered any support.
01:31Eventually, her legs gave way and she collapsed near the Air India premium economy counter.
01:38Parul is now alleging that no staff members stepped in to help the family and they had
01:42to arrange the medical aid themselves.
01:52It is Air India that has now responded to the wheelchair horror.
01:55Air India said the passenger arrived late, no wheelchair due to peak rush, claim for
02:00one hour wait is baseless, at no point was the wheelchair denied.
02:05So this is what Air India is now saying.
02:08The family says that they had pre-booked the wheelchair but when they reached at the airport,
02:12they realized that there was no wheelchair and repeatedly even after requesting the airlines,
02:17they did not get the wheelchair, after which the lady, who was already struggling to walk,
02:23had to walk and cross three lanes and once she reached near the Air India premium economy
02:28counter, that's when her legs gave way and she fainted.
02:31My colleague Sagai is now joining me on the story.
02:34Sagai, Air India has responded to this horror.
02:37They are saying the passenger arrived late, no wheelchair because it was the peak rush
02:43and also said that the claim that the family waited for one hour is baseless, at no point
02:47was the wheelchair denied.
02:49This is what Air India is saying.
03:13Sagai, you know, now we are seeing two sides to the story.
03:28The family is saying that they had pre-booked the wheelchair but once they reached the airport,
03:33they realized that there was no wheelchair.
03:35They also said that they waited for almost an hour for the wheelchair to come but that
03:39was not given to them and the pictures that the family has released, we can clearly see
03:44that the 82-year-old woman has been injured because her legs gave way, she collapsed.
03:49The family also goes ahead, Sagai, and says that no medical help was given at the airport
03:54or even by the airlines.
03:55They had to look for medical aid themselves.
03:58Absolutely, the family members claimed that there was no cut here.
04:03They had informed the airlines well in advance, much before they even boarded from Delhi to
04:07Bengaluru and when they reached Bengaluru, they were looking forward for the assistance
04:12from the Air India airlines but none of the employees or the staff members from Air India
04:17were courteous and they waited for more than 30 to 40 minutes.
04:21The woman who was ill couldn't take waiting time and she tried to walk, she fell down
04:27and she injured and nobody even came forward to help her at that point of time.
04:32The family was quite furious on this, they tweeted about it.
04:36Now, Air India has given an explanation saying that they tried to do it, it was a peak hour
04:40but still they have apologised, stating that they couldn't do much more than what it was.
04:45Thank you, Sagai, for giving us those details.
04:47Now it's the passengers versus Air India battle that we are seeing.
04:52The Air India is now seeing passengers arrive late.
04:54The passengers' family is saying that despite pre-booking the wheelchair, they did not get
04:58one when they arrived at the airport.