[Courtesy of Asiana Airlines]
A San Francisco man waiting for an Asiana Airlines flight from Beijing to Seoul was asked to move out from his seat near an emergency exit because he had a prosthetic leg.
Upset with an unexpected situation on Sunday, Tim Seward filmed the scene with his mobile phone and uploaded the video onto his YouTube page, along with a cynical post that it was "absolutely insane" to experience such "blatant prejudice in my life focused on my prosthetic".
The incident caught public attention as the world is still shocked by the brutal take-down in April of a United Airlines passenger who was beaten and dragged off the plane when he refused to get off, after Chicago aviation department gate officers asked him to give up his seat for other crew.
Asiana, one of South Korea's two leading airlines, defended itself saying the latest case in Beijing was completely different and inevitable to protect the safety of other passengers. "We are responsible to carefully check whether a passenger seating on the exit row seat is capable of performing the duties in the event of an emergency," the company said in an English statement.
An Asiana official told Aju News Wednesday that his company did not appeal to compulsory measures and asked for Seward's understanding.
In the video, an Asiana employee was seen asking Seward repeatedly in a polite manner to move to another seat because the company could not prove whether his leg is "functional", but probably he did not give an answer reasonable enough to persuade Seward.
"I paid extra for a seat with extra leg room and Asiana Airlines asked me to move because they saw my prosthetic foot," Seward claimed through his YouTube page. "Apparently they cant prove that I am capable enough to sit in the seat I purchased so they made me move seats because I cant prove I can run, or jump."
However, Asiana refuted Seward's claims, "It is our policy that a passenger cannot be assigned to an exit row seat by paying extra money." The company said it does not offer exit row seats for sale to customers in order to avoid any restrictions on selecting and assigning passengers who can perform "the functions needed in the emergencies".
Asiana also insisted it followed regulations stated by the US Federal Aviation Administration that state it is the decision of airlines to judge whether the passenger would be able to perform the required safety procedures in case of an emergency.
Seward was not treated unfairly, Asiana said, adding there was no intention to cause any inconvenience.
Park Sae-jin = swatchsjp@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
