A disability advocate has urged the aviation industry to lift accessibility standards after Jetstar apologised to the passenger for causing them to fall out of a wheelchair.

Akii Ngo said air travel for wheelchair users should not have to be "luck of the draw" after having troubling experiences with different airlines.

They fell out of the airline's aisle wheelchair which a Jetstar staff member was pushing as they disembarked from an aircraft at Adelaide Airport in May, 2022.

Mx Ngo, who usually uses a customised electric wheelchair, made a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission, hoping it would prevent anyone else from enduring a similar incident.

They said the incident continued to impact them "to this day".

Mx Ngo, who was travelling from Sydney to Adelaide, was forced to use Jetstar's wheelchair in both airports.

This meant they required a staff member to push the wheelchair while moving around the airport.

In an agreed public statement, Jetstar apologised and said they would improve on wheelchair assistance for customers.

"On this occasion, unfortunately, the staff member operated the aisle wheelchair in a way that contributed to the accident that occurred," it said.

"Akii's experience has contributed to an enhanced awareness of the needs of customers requiring wheelchair assistance and will assist with staff training and delivery of wheelchair assistance to customers in the future."

Justice and Equity Centre senior solicitor Sheetal Balakrishnan, who represented Mx Ngo, said the complaint process "put the burden on people to have to bring to the attention of authorities that there's discrimination happening".

"We together with the disability community have been advocating strongly that there needs to be a standard for air travel that allows for people with disabilities to be included, for air travel services to be accessible and for them to have equal access to air travel," Ms Balakrishnan said.

"Those standards also need to be enforceable so that if an airline or an airport doesn't comply to the standards then action can be taken by a regulator to make sure that they comply."

Jumping through hoops

Mx Ngo said their experience with Jetstar was not isolated.

They said their customised wheelchair broke when travelling with a different airline on a separate occasion.

"That meant that I was literally housebound for as long as it took for the chair to get fixed," they said.

"Because it was viewed as luggage there was no priority that goes, 'We need to get this sorted ASAP', it was, 'Oh well, it was just an inconvenience, you broke some luggage' when really it's like your legs and your ability to move about the world."

Mx Ngo said many wheelchair users were "genuinely terrified" of their mobility aid getting lost or broken while travelling, sometimes in a foreign country.

"There is already additional work for people with disabilities to travel, the additional hoops we have to jump through or go through to even get onto a plane or even just to get approved to be able to fly."

Mx Ngo wanted to see systemic change in the aviation industry, including whole-of-organisation policies and industry standards. 

They added that some airlines had different rules at different airports.

“We are all paying customers," Mx Ngo said.

"Having a consistent process across the board regardless of the airline but also airports just to make the process more accessible and equitable because not everybody with a disability who are wheelchair users have the same needs and requirements, but they should at least know what to expect when it comes to air travel.

"It shouldn't be this difficult and the way people with disabilities are treated need to be better supported."