Not the experience she was expecting, wheelchair-bound actress Marissa Bode accuses Southern Airways of barring her from a recent flight.
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The Wicked star took to TikTok to share details about the alleged incident.
“I was denied boarding a flight because I’m disabled,” she claimed. “I wish that were clickbait.”
Although she wished what she was sharing was “false,” Bode continued, revealing that the incident occurred when she was having trouble locating her virtual ticket before boarding the flight to Pennsylvania.
However, when the actress asked for assistance, the Southern Airways crew informed her that she wasn’t allowed on the plane because of her wheelchair.
“So I got to the gate, and I was like, ‘Hey, could you help me locate my boarding pass?’” she explained. “And the two people at the gate look at me, and they are like, ‘Can you stand?’ And I said, ‘No.’ And they said, ‘I’m sorry, but because of that, we’re going to have to deny you boarding.’ They proceeded to tell me all the planes within this airline have stairs to get on the plane. Wild. Never heard of that before.”
She further shared, “I was like, disabled people are not an afterthought. Why, knowing that disabled people exist, which y’all clearly often forget, do you choose not to update your planes? And I was like, ‘This is blatant segregation.'”
According to its contract of carriage, Southern Airways requires passengers to be able to “ascend and descend several steps to board” its aircraft. It was further noted that, because Southern Airlines’ planes hold 28 or fewer passengers, the airline is exempt from providing mechanical lifts. Such a requirement is set by the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA), which was passed in 1986.
The Actress and Her Manager Spoke to the Airline Before the Flight
Continuing to share details about the incident, Bode stated that she and her manager had spoken to Southern Airways before the flight.
The actress claimed that she and her manager were “fully assured” that she would be able to board the flight. She contacted the airline following the ordeal.
“I told [the director] on the phone, I don’t want money out of this,” she stated. “I truly, truly just want it to be better for disabled fliers in the future. Aside from just me…. They’re doing the right thing in terms of figuring out how to rectify it.”
In her update, Bode called on Southern Airways and other airlines to “do better.”
“I just want things better for disabled people in the future,” she added. “At the very least, it looks like Southern, so far, is dedicated to doing so. … I really do appreciate how receptive they’ve been.”