Airport staff praised by blind woman on solo trip

Emilie Douglas said she wanted to work with other organisations to help provide the same level of support

A blind woman has praised staff at Ports of Jersey for their help when she went on her first holiday by herself.

Emilie Douglas was very anxious about the flight to Edinburgh because of previous bad experiences while travelling.

But she said the new assisted travel services at Jersey Airport made a big difference.

Mrs Douglas decided to share her experience to encourage more services and companies to offer the same support for the disabled community.

‘Put in a wheelchair’

She said: "I had no issues going out of Jersey and back to the island so all my worries were alleviated."

Mrs Douglas said the staff listened to her to learn what help she needed and it gave her "a bit of independence back".

"I do need help but it was all on my terms instead of being put in a wheelchair, which happens so regularly and in other airports," Mrs Douglas added.

She said the work of people like Sarah-Louise Stubbs, head of customer experience and terminal operations at Ports of Jersey, has made major improvements.

Sarah-Louise Stubbs said she wanted to hear from more members of the disabled community about their travel experiences

Mrs Stubbs said the airport started assisted travel support in April and staff had gone through "an immense amount of training".

The assisted travel lounge allows "passengers to sit and chat so we get to know a lot of people's lives and what they need help with," according to Mrs Stubbs.

She added: "We plan to launch a disability forum for Jersey Airport so that we can start improving on passenger journey."

Suzanne Day from Enable Jersey said the support was a step in the right direction

Disability charity Enable Jersey said it was good to hear from Mrs Douglas as previously not everyone they spoke to had such positive experiences when travelling to and from Jersey.

Programme co-ordinator Suzanne Day said support had not been so good for others "when people don't quite try and understand what help they need".

But she said the disability forum was "music to our ears because they are listening to the person that it affects".