When Cory Lee’s Delta flight from Santiago, Chile landed in Atlanta, Georgia on November 13, he was eager to disembark after the long trip.
The award-winning Georgia-based travel blogger was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy when she was two years old and has used a wheelchair for most of her life.
This did not prevent him from traveling all over the world. When he does, he’s always the last to get off the plane waiting for his chair to get to the jet deck, Lee told Fox News Digital.
“He’s around 400 pounds, so it usually takes a while,” Lee said.
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When the flight crew approached him with the aisle chair used to transport wheelchair users to their own wheelchairs, Lee told Fox News Digital he asked if his power chair was already at the jet bridge.
“They were talking to each other and saying, ‘He just won’t get off the plane,'” Cory Lee (pictured above) told Fox News Digital about what happened.
(Curb Free with Cory Lee)
Lee said that when he was informed that his wheelchair was not on the bridge, he told flight attendants that he preferred to stay on the plane until he had access to his chair. .
Lee’s request falls under the Air Carrier Access Act.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s website states, “You can request that your wheelchair or walker be returned to you through the arrival lane at your destination airport, not the baggage claim area.” Airlines are required to return wheelchairs to users as close to the aircraft door as possible if requested.
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Lee said it could take up to an hour for his chair to get to the jet deck and the aisle chair was uncomfortable for him.
“Also, it puts me at risk of developing pressure surges,” he explained.
Cory Lee said when his Delta flight from Santiago, Chile landed in Atlanta, Georgia, his request for his wheelchair angered flight attendants.
(Stock)
It was Lee’s request to wait for his wheelchair to be brought on the plane that angered flight attendants, he said.
A supervisor also got involved, who also wanted him to disembark before his wheelchair arrived, Lee said.
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“They were talking to each other and saying, ‘He just won’t get off the plane,'” Lee told Fox News Digital. “Believe me, I really wanted to get off the plane.”
The interaction, captured on video and shared on Instagram, escalated when a flight attendant told him to get off the plane and wait for his wheelchair in the aisle chair – otherwise the TSA would get Lee off the plane with all their guns and everything. ”
At that time, Lee said he “didn’t want to give in to the pressure. I know the law.”
Lee said he “didn’t want to give in to the pressure. I know the law.”
Lee believes he is the first wheelchair traveler to visit all seven continents.
A few minutes later, a “very nice and helpful” Atlanta airport employee arrived and said the wheelchair was at the gate of the jet bridge, Lee said.
“He took me and [put me] in the aisle chair and then back in my wheelchair,” Lee said, adding that it was about seven to eight minutes after the flight attendant’s gun comment that Lee was in his own wheelchair and on the way.
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Fox News Digital contacted Delta and received a statement.
“The exchange in this video does not reflect the high level of care that the people of Delta strive for every day,” the statement read. “We are reviewing what happened here and will follow up with our staff as appropriate. Delta has contacted this customer directly to learn more about their experience and to issue a further apology.”
Cory Lee looks out the window at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. Lee said he contacted Delta Air Lines about a videotaped Nov. 13 incident when flight attendants wanted him to disembark before his wheelchair arrived.
(Curb Free with Cory Lee)
Lee said he contacted the airline via email and received a response that they were looking into the matter.
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What he would really like, however, is the opportunity to speak to flight attendants, Delta company and ground crews about interacting with people with disabilities, he noted.
“They need accessibility training and to hear from real people with disabilities like me,” Lee said. “They need to understand the impact of their words.”
Cory Lee said he would like to have a conversation with the company and Delta crews about how to interact with people with disabilities.
(Curb Free with Cory Lee)
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Cory Lee’s first international trip, at age 15, was to the Bahamas. “Seeing the culture and trying new foods sparked something in me that made me want to see so much more of this big, wild, beautiful world of ours,” he wrote in his travel blog.
He graduated from the University of West Georgia and has a degree in marketing, he says in his blog.
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