Each time her son, Ian Nieblas, travels, Debbie Kobayakawa does her best to make sure he is equipped and accommodated with everything he might need.
Nieblas is autistic, legally blind, and hearing impaired. These disabilities, however, haven’t interfered with Nieblas’ ability to live an independent life. In the past two years, he’s traveled by himself at least four different times.
On his previous trips, he’s received help from Alaska and United in getting from the curb to the correct gate of his flight, but each time, the airlines was always more than happy to assist Nieblas free of charge.
For this particular trip with Hawaiian Airlines, however, Nieblas and Kobayakawa were suddenly told that they had to pay $100 to have an airline employee escort Nieblas from the curb to the correct gate.
Kobayakawa, after having obtained this service for her son free of charge many times before, simply refused to pay. “I told [the airline staff] no, not going to happen," Kobayakawa recalled. "I believe that my son should have the same rights as anyone else."
She ended up getting ahold of a security badge and walking Nieblas to the right gate herself.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Hawaiian airlines is legally not allowed to charge passengers extra fees for ensuring that they board and disembark their planes safely.
Hawaiian Airlines, however, insists it is acting in accordance with the Air Carrier Access Act: “Our policy states that we will escort passengers with disabilities from the curb to the gate and vice-versa free of charge. If a passenger requires assistance beyond that, we do require a fee to cover the cost associated with dedicating a staff member to provide assistance for an extended period. We are looking into this situation and if it is determined that we charged this passenger in error, we will provide a refund.”
Kobayakawa is not satisfied and has said she will not rest until the airline explicitly and properly amends its policy.
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