Friday, 15th August 2008 - 13:49CET
Updated: Air Malta to allow blind girl to travel with guide dog
Catia Lima and Lee.
Air Malta is next week to review its policy on guide dogs on flights, but it will tomorrow allow Catia Lima, a blind 30-year-old Portuguese, to board a flight from Northern Italy to Malta with her guide dog Lee curled under her feet, an airline spokesman said.
The airline had originally intended to separate Catia from Lee, a five-year-old yellow Labrador. Lee was going to be carried in the aircraft's hold.
Roy Perry, press officer of the Malta Guide Dogs Foundation, told timesofmalta.com that despite an EU regulation on the carriage of assistance animals travelling by air, which came into effect last month, Air Malta had still not put into place operational procedures to allow this.
He thanked the airline for waiving the excess baggage charge that was to be applied and hoped that Air Malta would bring itself in line with the EU directive soon.
Brian Bartolo, Air Malta's general marketing manager told this portal that the directive quoted by Mr Perry was subject to national law, which said nothing on the matter. Therefore, the EU regulation was not binding on Malta.
Nonetheless, Air Malta acknowledged that this was a new reality and would be reviewing its operations to comply with the EU directive next week. In the meantime, it would be making an exception for Catia tomorrow.
Workers, Mr Bartolo said, would have to be trained and training was usually done in the winter.
He pointed out that the directive said that when a guide dog was travelling with a passenger, the airline had to be informed reasonably in advance and Ms Lima only booked her ticket on Wednesday.
Air Malta, he said, was all for collaborating with the Malta Guide Dogs Association, and had even assisted the organisation with five airline tickets for the purpose of training.
Mr Perry said that elsewhere in Europe Catia had been able to travel by air with Lee curled under her feet, in total comfort and safety.
He said the Malta Guide Dogs Foundation hoped that Catia’s stay in Malta would be a happy one and that she would be treated with respect and not discriminated against in any way. It was also hoped that she would be allowed access to all establishments, public transport and places of entertainment.
RSS
Comments
Good on you for seeing sense Air Malta managemet. The only concern I have is that the dog has to be curled under her feet on the plane. There is no space for our feet when there is no living being under our feet so how can they be comfortable?
The space bettween the seats is barely enough for one person as is the elbo space between people. I hope you give them a proper welcome and make sure they are seated comforably. Dogs are God's creatures too you know. Also make sure you have some food and water for the companion too do not be stingy; and a bowl.
Air Malta welcome to the modern age and I hope you stay in it.
People that are not afraid of having the guts to change the future. People like Catia Lima should be provided with all the help that is required so that they move on in life. Air MAlta has taken the liberty to be ahead of the Local Government. Thumbs up again and a splendid job done, and as for those who might moan cause a dog could be brushing up their leg during their flight, could they please think for a moment and ask themselves, what if Catia was their daughter? Would they think the same way. Lets be human in all our doingsin life and respect others who have so many difficult obstacles to surmount in life. Lets make sure they have one obstacle less, and thats us !
Well Tim, although I totally agree with you not all those problems are the fault of the government. I'm not saying the government is to be excused that these problems are still around because they could provide the tools to fix some of the problems you mentioned.
But the main reason we have these problems (Illegal Hunting, parking on pavements, dumping raw sewage at sea, air pollution, sound and light pollution and animal rights!) is mainly because we are a country which lacks disciplin. Think about it, people still stop their cars in the middle of a two-way road blocking one side of the road creating a single lane two-way road and we have the wardens around to stop this. I mean watch this footage and tell me we are a disciplined country: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84-ABlKi3zo
Anyway I personally see this decision as something morally right. People may complain but guide dogs are well trained and disciplined. People will complain only because they want to.
I commend Mr Brian Bartolo and Airmalta for taking this decision , even at the risk that some individuals will try to make a happy story into a sick melodrama .
I am sure that Airmalta cabin crew will give, as they have done in the past 30 years, the usual high standard of care that these people need whilst flying.
My girlfriend is highly allergic to not only dogs, but fur and feathers in general, and we know many other people with the same condition. It's not something you just "get over"; the allergy starts by closing up her throat, clogging her sinuses, streaming tears down her face and making her unable to breathe. Usually she has to leave the room within five minutes, else the condition can get much worse.
Are you telling me that 14,000 feet above ground, this is something you can just "get over"?
But as usual, it have to be a foreign person to open their minds, but better late than never.
Well they have to do what people who have flying phobia do - deal with it. Such dogs are harmless and behave much better than some humans do.
Air Malta won a medal of respect from most of us.
Thank you for allowing Ms Lima dog on board.
@Berys Said: A diamond is a girls best friend. Most girls who get diamonds are not teenagers anymore. I bet you used that statement a few times.I hear ladies say to each other YOU GO GIRL all the time. Maybe these are American lines.
Mr Briffa
Air Malta has been awake since 1975 when it started operating as our National Airline.
At that time everyone was against Air Malta and thought it would not make it.
Oh yes it did make it Mr Briffa but probably not thanks to people like you who seem to be still against Air Malta. Air Malta has opened many routes and operated flights at a loss to support Malta' tourism industry. Shame on you and people like you who keep trying to harm Air Malta's image. What else don't you like about Malta? Perhaps its language like many Maltese who are shy to speak our language. There are many things which you can write about to complain but certainly not Air Malta who has served its mission over the years. Well done Air Malta.
If her stay is a happy one or not would depend on something that no one knows as obviosly her stay has not even started.
Do you have to be blind to be treated with respect?
Do you have to be blind to not be discriminated against?
Us there a reason why she would not be allowed access to an establishment , public transport or places of entertainment?
These types of comments tend to sugest that other blind people who have visited Malta were mistreated.
Journalists should be careful what they print and not report something that dosn't make sense or that can harm, say our tourist industry, just for the sake of filling a page with usless words.
As regards to caps writing, I apologize but can assure you that my opinion is not panicky but factual. If the flight is a full load where can this poor dog fit on board? Passengers complain about leg room let alone such a big dog. Airmalta is duty bound to consider what can go wrong.
@Raymond Sammut
A dog can be very well trained but if pressurization had to effect his ears, the pain will not rest with anybody let alone a 'trained' dog.
Expressing one's opinion is not creating panic but awareness which I am sure that Airmalta is professional enough to consider
weldone Brian and mr. Cappello, Another demonstration that Air Malta cares for our customers.
viva l-ghasafar ta comb, I Hope that there's a few out there that recalls this frase. Long live our Flag Carrier.
Tony
Well done to airmalta, but pls tell me this why do we have to wait for others to tell us what to do, do we need EU regulations to let a guiding dog travel with his owner on airplanes??
oh and PS STOP WRITING WITH THE CAPS LOCK ON, IN INTERNET ETIQUETTE TERMS ITS CONSIDERED SHOUTING!
PPS Good on Air Malta for reacting so fast, even on a holday. Ah! The wonders of the internet! News that creates a reaction and its own news stories in less then 12 hours
"A DOG CAN REACT BADLY FOR VARIOUS REASONS AND HE CAN BITE PASSENGERS AND WORST OF ALL CREATE PANIC ON BOARD."
This is not just a "dog". It's a trained Labrador. This animal will never hurt a fly throughout its short lifespan. Pretty much guaranteed. There is a far greater probability of being hurt by a human than by a trained and well looked after Labrador under any given circumstance.
And the Labrador can wait outside just like a big adult. This animal would take far less space than I would.
I think we need to be community minded and not panicky reactionists. There are people who are genuinely phobic of dogs. So Air Malta will have to take things into consideration when seating passengers during check-in procedures.
Well done Brian, well done Joe Cappello. Another demonstration that Air Malta really cares. Keep up the good work and we will guarantee our continued support. Long live our Flag Carrier.
What will the passengers who suffer from dog phobia do?...suffer a disasterous trip.
Keep it up .. Mr. Timesofmalta.com!!:)
Yes it had to be the EU for us to arrange such issues because our island is made up of people like you who keep blaming the authorities/government for every single thing that goes wrong. Its an addictive habit which diverts the attention from the real cause of the problem. The real cause of the problem is us Maltese. We hunt how and when we like, we dump sewage in the sea, we mistreat animals, we pollute the air with sound and noise then we just blame the government. How very convenient and how politically sad you are.
Instead of moaning, wouldnt it better to start a petition and divert as many people as you can to this blog and ask them to sign their support for this woman?
Yes it had to be the EU for us to arrange such issues because our island is made up of people like you who keep blaming the authorities/government for every single thing that goes wrong. Its an addictive habit which diverts the attention from the real cause of the problem. The real cause of the problem is us Maltese. We hunt how and when we like, we dump sewage in the sea, we mistreat animals, we pollute the air with sound and noise then we just blame the government. How very convenient and how politically sad you are.
Instead of moaning, wouldnt it better to start a petition and divert as many people as you can to this blog and ask them to sign their support for this woman?
What are you waiting for Air Malta?
This is crass insensitivity and puts Malta into shame!
On another note, whilst I understand the concerns of the persons directly involved in this case, one must understand that Air Malta might have never felt the need to implement such procedures as it was probably never faced with such a situation before. I am sure our national airline will do its best to implement these procedures very swiftly - as, after all, Air Malta has always done its best to accommodate all passengers, including persons with special needs.