'Extremely humiliating': Why this passenger crawled to his seat on a flight

Sean Chang did something in November that most travelers have done at least once or twice – he cut it a little too close for his flight. But unlike most travelers, the race to the boarding door ended in him having to crawl to his seat.

Chang said the security line at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was unusually long on Nov. 3, and he wound up getting to his gate with only about 10 minutes to spare before departure.

For most travelers, those 10 minutes would result in a sigh of relief, but Chang is paraplegic, and getting to the gate by such a narrow margin only led to more complications.

“I was told, ‘hey, there is no aisle chair ready for you,’ ” Chang told USA TODAY. Because he relies on a wheelchair to get around, he requires special assistance to board flights. Normally he’s able to reserve an aisle chair in advance. But Chang said this time, his request for aid didn’t show up with his reservation. Delta Air Lines confirmed it didn’t receive the request.

Delta said it offered to accommodate Chang on a later flight, but he said that wasn’t a good option for him, either.

Like many travelers with mobility limitations, Chang stops eating and drinking about 24 hours before flying because airplane bathrooms aren’t accessible to him. He said delaying his travel plans would mean going even longer without food or water.

Chang said Delta’s gate agent told him he could board the flight by any means, and he said he would crawl to his seat if he had to.

“Am I really going to have to crawl to get to my seat?” Chang said. “It’s extremely humiliating, especially being on the floor and everybody’s above you looking down.” 

Ultimately, that was how Chang chose to board the flight. Delta acknowledged the incident in a statement to USA TODAY and said its policy allows customers to decide how to board the aircraft if assistance isn’t available.

“Although Delta employees offered to move the customer to a direct flight less than 1.5 hours later to allow for proper boarding assistance, the customer opted to board himself,” the statement said. “To provide you with the best service, we recommend customers in need of mobility assistance share this information ahead of their journey, a feature available on delta.com and in the Fly Delta App.” 

The airline also said it has complaint resolution officers available at every airport to help address the needs of travelers with disabilities. However, its staff found no violation occurred in Chang’s case because he voluntarily chose how to board his flight.

For Chang, the incident just highlighted how inaccessible air travel can be.

“We need to make sure disabled people have rights, equal rights,” he said, adding that he thinks airlines need to face harsher financial penalties when travel goes wrong for people with disabilities.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the DOT is considering new rules that would make these kinds of incidents more costly for airlines and has previously made statements agreeing with Chang’s position. 

Buttigieg said airlines need to face tougher economic incentives, including possible lawsuits from disabled travelers who are mistreated. Currently, individual flyers are not able to sue airlines directly.

Chang said that although Delta refunded his flights and provided him with miles and vouchers for compensation, he feels airlines still have a lot of room for improvement.

“I wanted to be compensated for something you can’t put a price on,” he said. 

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in New York. You can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com