Virginia resident D'Arcee Neal had just landed from a cross-country flight on Oct. 20 when he urgently needed to use a bathroom.
While it wouldn't be a problem for most people, Neal suffers from cerebral palsy and couldn't navigate through the plane without an aisle-sized wheelchair. He couldn't use the bathroom on his Washington-bound flight because airplane bathrooms aren't built for handicapped individuals, so Neal waited for assistance from United Airlines flight attendants.
After waiting 15 minutes for staff members to return with a wheelchair, the disabled man decided to act on his own.
"I was like, 'I don't have time for this,'" Neal told the local NBC affiliate. "I decided to get out and crawl down the plane to my chair." He added, "Half the time, I feel like airlines treat people with disabilities as a secondary concern."
A United Airlines spokesman, who said Neal was offered $300 as compensation, claimed the aisle chair that should have been available was removed by mistake. They only got word after a remorseful flight attendant reported the incident.
"We made a mistake," United said in a statement released on Tuesday. "When we realized our error -- that Mr. Neal was onboard and needed the aisle chair -- we arranged to have it brought back, but it arrived too late. We've apologized to him for that delay." The airline said it provides a "24-hour Disability Desk" for disabled customers to request assistance.
The American Association of People with Disabilities released their own statement a few days prior, calling Neal's experience a "common occurrence for people with disabilities." They cited over 27,500 complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2014 and an overall problem of inaccessibility for wheelchair-bound travelers.
The Los Angeles Times notes complaint totals this year are on pace to surpass totals for each of the last six years, citing DOT statistics of 459 complaints filed through June; figures that exceed last year's total by 18 percent.
As for Neal, he's just surprised an airline company would reach out.
"Quite frankly, I was just shocked, because this had happened a couple of times before (with various airlines), and no company had ever bothered to apologize when they've done something wrong," he said. "I just hope they learn from this."