‘A living nightmare’: Woman stranded in hotel room for Christmas after airline loses wheelchair part
A paralysed woman has been left stranded in Singapore after part of her wheelchair was lost while flying with Emirates.
Gemma Quinn, 35, who was paralysed from the neck down in a car accident in 1992, and once made headlines after sending a letter to Superman actor Christopher Reeve, had booked a 19-day trip of a lifetime across Asia with her two carers at a cost of more than £15,000.
But she is spending her holiday, and Christmas, in a hotel room in Singapore after a “catalogue of errors” saw the back of her custom-made wheelchair lost in the first part of her trip, rendering it unusable.
She is now unable to leave her bed or complete the next two stops on her country-hopping trip.
Ms Quinn, an experienced traveller, flew from Manchester Airport to Dubai on 23 December before arriving in Singapore on Christmas Eve.
“This was meant to be a holiday of a lifetime which is now turned into a living nightmare,” she said.
“I have always tried to live a normal and active life as possible, travel always comes with its difficulties, but I have never been made to feel so disabled as I do now.”
In 1995, when she was a child, Ms Quinn wrote to actor Reeve after he was paralysed from the neck down in a horse-riding accident.
After encouraging the late actor to not give up in the face of his diagnosis, 10-year-old Ms Quinn met Princess Diana, who subsequently wrote a letter to the International Spinal Research Trust commending her courage.
In the letter, Diana wrote: “To any parent, the thought of their child suffering a serious spinal injury is truly frightening. I therefore find Gemma’s example of hope and courage all the more inspiring.”
Without the specially moulded back of the chair, Ms Quinn was carried through Dubai Airport in a stretcher to make her connecting flight.
She said she had been “degraded” by the experience with Emirates after she was informed the back of her chair had been lost after her first flight.
“It was an absolutely mortifying experience. I kept telling all the staff that if they couldn’t find the missing back off my chair then there was no point in me continuing my trip,” she said.
“I got the feeling that they just wanted me off the aircraft. I eventually very reluctantly agreed to be stretchered to my connecting flight on the promise that they would be working on a solution by the time I landed in Singapore.”
Ms Quinn added the vital part of the chair, which cost several thousand pounds, had not been recovered and was not even registered as lost by Emirates until she got to Singapore.
She was set to be travelling to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to celebrate the New Year before travelling to a beach resort in the country – but this is now unlikely.
Ms Quinn added: “By the time I landed in Singapore, nothing had been done, the only thing they did was put a pillow on the back of my chair, held in place with two aeroplane seat belts. I told them how unsafe this was for me but they shrugged it off.
“Here I am now confined to my hotel room completely immobile, the only sights that I can see is the sights out of my window until Emirates deliver on a promise.”
It comes after the same airline broke the wheelchair of disabled passenger Jen Warren in July and failed to offer any response for almost three months.
Ms Warren at the time described the way she was treated by Emirates as “appalling” and said it left her “really upset”.
An Emirates spokesperson told The Independent: “Emirates wishes to confirm that the missing part of Ms Quinn’s wheelchair has been located in Dubai and is being transported to Singapore on 25 December 2019.
“The part will be handed over to her upon its arrival. Our teams in Dubai and Singapore have made every effort to help Ms Quinn and her family continue on their planned holiday, and we are very sorry for the inconvenience they have experienced.”
Additional reporting by PA
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