{"id":573834,"date":"2026-08-19T14:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T14:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/573834\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T14:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T14:10:11","slug":"virgin-australia-reviews-disability-incident-after-passenger-removed-from-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/573834\/","title":{"rendered":"Virgin Australia reviews disability incident after passenger removed from flight"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u201cThe only seat that I can sit in, because I travel with a service dog, is the middle seat and then she takes the window.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no negotiation, that was where they put me, but there was no space to put a SmartDrive at all,\u201d Hryhorec said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole thing was so embarrassing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking to ABC News, Hryhorec said he had flown on three Virgin Australia services with the same equipment in the days before the incident and the device had been stored in an overhead locker.<\/p>\n
Virgin Australia is reviewing an incident involving disability advocate Shane Hryhorec, who says he was removed from a flight after a dispute over storing a motorised attachment for his wheelchair. Photo \/ Shane Hryhorec<\/p>\n
He said he discussed several alternatives with cabin crew, including changing seats or storing the device elsewhere, but was told he would need to leave the aircraft.<\/p>\n
Hryhorec later posted video of the incident online, describing the experience as \u201cmortifying\u201d. He told News.com.au it was \u201cso embarrassing having 200 passengers watch me getting dragged off a plane\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt made me feel so small and so degraded. It is not any way how you should treat a human being, ever,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Virgin Australia said it was reviewing the incident and remained committed to providing an accessible and inclusive travel experience.<\/p>\n
In a statement to ABC News, the airline said the device had not been declared before boarding and was incorrectly assessed as a lithium battery rather than a battery-powered mobility aid. <\/p>\n
As a result, staff incorrectly advised it could not be stored in an overhead locker.<\/p>\n
The airline apologised for the \u201cconfusion and frustration\u201d caused and acknowledged the handling of the device was inconsistent with Hryhorec\u2019s previous travel experiences.<\/p>\n
Hryhorec has lodged a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe only seat that I can sit in, because I travel with a service dog, is the middle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[13038,74,88710,85,138,1054,13731,70,71,671,29819,111,139,69,1523,14734,5196,80018,763,312,282801,49227,51975],"class_list":["post-573834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-advocate","tag-after","tag-attachment","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-disability","tag-dispute","tag-flight","tag-from","tag-incident","tag-involving","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-over","tag-passenger","tag-removed","tag-reviewing","tag-reviews","tag-says","tag-storing","tag-virgin","tag-wheelchair"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}