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Model and business executive Samanta Bullock claimed she was blocked from boarding a British Airways flight at JFK Airport because she was flying alone while using her wheelchair.
Bullock, the founder of Bullock Inclusion – a company fighting for a more inclusive world, made the shocking revelation when she arrived at the terminal for her flight to London and was allegedly told she wouldn’t be getting on the flight, in what she says was discrimination against her disability.
“I was not denied because of a ticket issue, a safety violation or missing documentation. I was denied because I am disabled and traveling independently,” Bullock wrote on social media Sunday.
“The explanation I was given was shocking. I was told that because I was travelling alone, the crew could not assist me to get to the toilet during the flight and could not evacuate me in an emergency,” she said.
Bullock, 47, says she has traveled alone for many years before she called out the alleged discrimination she faced from airline staffers.
“If disabled people are expected to travel with a companion, that means we must pay for two flights instead of one,” she said. “We are effectively being charged more for the same freedom and opportunities that non-disabled passengers take for granted.”
Following a several-hour ordeal, Bullock was eventually transferred to an American Airlines flight “without being asked” and was interrogated with similar questions that British Airways had asked.
The Brazilian native is now threatening legal action against the airlines because of the airport mayhem.
“I believe this treatment may constitute disability discrimination, and I am exploring legal action to protect my rights and the rights of other disabled travellers,” she wrote. “I have everything documented and recorded and fully will continue this discussion and sue them for all the time and significant discrimination I have suffered.
“Disabled people deserve the same right to travel, work and live independently as everyone else,” she said.
Bullock ironically pointed out that she had just attended the Bullock Inclusion Future of Fashion Show in New York, along with the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the United Nations.
“I had just attended the 19th COSP Conference at the United Nations in New York, where global leaders, advocates, and organizations gathered to discuss and advance the rights of disabled people. They spent days talking about inclusion, accessibility, dignity, and equal rights,” she wrote. “Then I flew home with British Airways and experienced the exact opposite.”
Bullock was a child model and tennis player before she was left paralyzed and needing a wheelchair after a “near-fatal accident involving a firearm” at the age of 14, she wrote on Facebook.
She recovered from the gunshot wound and returned to tennis, becoming the world number one wheelchair tennis player in Brazil, according to her website.
Bullock placed second in the wheelchair tennis doubles at the 2007 Parapan American Games in Rio de Janeiro.
She also performed during the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Paralympic Games, according to Disability Talk.
“We are sorry for our customer’s experience and are urgently looking into what happened. We remain in direct contact with the customer while we review the circumstances,” a British Airways spokesperson told The Post.
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