Man ‘humiliated’ after being kicked off Virgin flight

Disability advocate Shane Hryhorec was removed from a Virgin flight from Sydney to Adelaide. He uses a wheelchair with a portable electric motor and a service animal. Hryhorec said he had stored the motor without issue on three previous Virgin flights that week.

The issue arose when there was no space to store the motor under the seats in his row. According to ABC News, Hryhorec was instructed by cabin staff to store it there. The situation ended with him being taken off the flight. Hryhorec expressed feeling humiliated and described the experience as "awful" and "discriminatory".

Hryhorec has threatened legal action against Virgin. The airline said it is looking into the issue and reviewing its policies on storing portable wheelchair motors.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, ABC News AU — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.