Sophie-Marie from Korneuburg in Lower Austria, a student at a higher technical school, is heavily dependent on the aid. The girl suffers from spastic tetraparesis, a disease that affects all four limbs and greatly limits her movement.
This month, Sophie-Marie went to the south of Spain with her mother and father. “We took a vacation and visited the grandparents, who are spending the winter there,” the student’s mother, Mrs. Sabine, confirmed to the Heute server.
Last week, Sophie-Marie and her parents were returning to Vienna with a stopover in Madrid. The problem already arose in Málaga, from where the plane of an unnamed Spanish company took off one hour late.
In Madrid, they are said to have seen airport workers unload the cart from the hold. But an unpleasant surprise came in Vienna: he did not appear on the luggage belt.
“The airport staff assured us that he was here. But they couldn’t find him,” complained the student’s mother. “Sophie-Marie desperately needs a wheelchair. She can only walk very short distances without assistance,” added Mrs. Sabine.
She reported everything to complaints and numerous phone calls followed. “They had no idea where it was. That’s why they launched an international search. How could a wheelchair be lost?,” the complainant did not understand.
My daughter needs a mobile seat on the way to and from school. In the end, the parents had to dust off the older cart stored in the basement.
“Nobody Knows Where He’s Been”
But it no longer fits, among other things, because it is too narrow for Sophia-Maria. When the girl returned from school on the first day after her vacation after ten hours of classes, she could barely move. “My whole body hurts,” her mother quoted her as saying.
Only after four days did the liberating news come. The stroller was found and the family was able to pick it up at the airport in the lost luggage department. But it showed damage.
“No one was able to tell me where he was all this time. We fly often, but we have never experienced anything like this before,” Ms. Sabine continued.
She is also very upset by the thought of the cart not being found. “They told us that we would be entitled to a maximum of 1,500 euros (CZK 36,450) in compensation, because a wheelchair is considered luggage just like a regular suitcase,” she added.
