A disabled teenager was left stuck in his seat unable to get off a Virgin flight after a wheelchair the airline provided him didn't fit down the aisle of the aircraft.
Hamish Paynter, 17, along with his mother Kristy and his carer, were preparing to disembark the flight that landed on the Gold Coast on Sunday when they began to have issues with the 'aisle chair'.
Aisle chairs are a small wheelchair given to passengers who are not physically able to walk to their seat on a plane.
The chairs are specifically designed to navigate compact spaces such as the inside of an aircraft.
Passengers with a physical disability are safely helped into these devices at the boarding gate, or near the entrance of the aircraft before they are taken to their seat.
A teenager who has a disability was stuck in a seat on a Virgin flight on Sunday after a wheelchair provided by the airline did not fit in the aisle (stock image)
While there was no issue transporting Hamish to his seat when the trio boarded the flight in Melbournejust over two hours earlier, the chair provided at the other end didn't fit the narrow aisle after the plane landed.
Hamish, who is a quadriplegic, was travelling to Queensland to take part in rehabilitation.
He sustained a serious spinal injury in 2022 while he was on a beach trip to Tasmania to celebrate the last day of school in Year 10.
Ms Paynter said staff on board the flight tried to assist Hamish by using a replacement aisle chair but the devices were too big.
'They tried to bring one chair on, and it didn't fit. I could see the wheels either side just didn't fit. They brought another aisle chair on, and that didn't fit either,' she told the ABC.
The issue forced them to stay on the plane half-an-hour after the flight landed at Gold Coast Airport.
Ms Paynter said the cabin crew for the next flight began to board the plane while they were stranded on the flight.
Staff then recommended using an on-board fold-up wheelchair, which would help Hamish get from his seat to the front of the plane where the aisle chair would fit.
The on-board wheelchairs are commonly used on flights to help people who use wheelchairs to go to the bathroom.
There were no issues with the aisle chair when the trio boarded their flight in Melbourne, however they encountered issues when they landed at Gold Coast Airport (stock image)
The plan meant Ms Paynter and the carer would have to lift Hamish for several metres, from the on-board chair to the aisle chair.
'It's (the on-board chair) not suitable at all, it doesn't have armrests, it's not secure, it's not safe for somebody with no core [muscles],' Ms Paynter said.
Eventually, Hamish was helped onto the on-board chair before staff permitted the device to be taken off the aircraft, despite their initial objections to the move.
Ms Paynter said it was very difficult to manouevre the on-board chair off the aircraft to allow Hamish to disembark the plane safely.
'I was holding his knees all the way down the ramp so he wouldn't fall or slide across,' she said.
Ms Paynter claims she was told by staff that Virgin had redesigned their planes, which resulted in aisles being narrower than other aircraft.
Some aisle chairs therefore do not fit in the aisles because of these changes.
Virgin upgraded its entire Boeing fleet last year with new seats installed on the aircraft in business and economy class on the Boeing 737-700 and 737-800 jets, as part of an overhaul of their cabins.
The cost of the upgrades is understood to have totaled $110million.
Ms Paynter said it was not the first time they had experienced issues with an aisle chair to help Hamish disembark an aircraft safely.
Ms Paynter claims she was told by staff that Virgin had refurbished their planes whichresulted in the aisles becoming narrower (pictured, Virgin aircraft at Sydney's domestic airport terminal)
A Virgin Australia spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that Virgin takes its responsibilities to support passengers who need assistance to travel safely very seriously.
'Our guest relations team has reached out to our customer to provide additional information and apologise for their experience,' the spokesperson said.
'We have raised this issue with our ground handler at Gold Coast Airport and are reviewing our internal processes and training.'
Daily Mail Australia understands Virgin is currently rolling out aisle chairs that have been modified for their 737-MAX 8 and 737-800 aircrafts.
The devices will be made available at all airports across Australia.
The wheelchairs are already being used at Gold Coast Airport but the modified device was not used by the ground crew during the latest incident.
