SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JULY 09: An Asiana Airlines flight lands above wreckage from Asiana Airlines flight 214 as it sits on runway 28L at San Francisco International Airport on July 9, 2013 in San Francisco, California. Three days after Asiana Airlines flight 214 crash landed at San Francisco International Airport, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is continuing their investigation as to why the plane crashed. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Tim Seward, 31, was flying from Beijing, China, to Seoul, South Korea, with Asiana Airlines when a cabin crew member approached him and said, “I cannot prove if your leg is functional.” The crew member told Seward that he would have to move seats unless he could “run and jump to prove his prosthetic leg was able to support him.”
What Happened?
Seward, an industrial engineer who had his limb amputated at the age of 11 because of cancer, had paid an additional fee for an exist row seat which requires passengers to be physically able to open the emergency door in the event of a crash landing.
Though Tim does have a prosthetic leg, he told Daily Mail that he is “more capable than most people physically” and even enjoyed a brief professional skating career in his 20s.
After boarding, he had asked the steward: “So the company told you to move a disabled person because in this seat according to your policy you do not allow a disabled person to sit in this seat because I wear a prosthetic leg?”
After the staff member ordered him to move he asked to speak to the cabin manager. Check out the video of the dispute.
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According to Tim, the crew member returned with three security guards who escorted him to another seat.
“It caught me off-guard completely,” he told Daily Mail.
“Even with everything that’s happening on flights these days I couldn’t believe what happened and that I am the one having to deal with it.”
Asiana Airlines did not return MailOnline’s request for a comment.
Asiana Airlines
Asiana Airlines Inc. is one of South Korea’s two major airlines, along with Korean Air. Asiana has its headquarters in Asiana Town building in Seoul. It commenced operations in December 1988 and has a fleet of 82 aircrafts.
