Stranded British woman resumes holiday after missing wheelchair part found
A woman who was left stranded in Singapore after part of her wheelchair was lost while travelling with Emirates from Manchester airport can now continue her holiday after the part was found.
Gemma Quinn, 35, who was paralysed from the neck down in a car accident as a child in 1992, booked a 19-day trip across Asia with her two carers at a cost of more than £15,000.
But Quinn faced spending her holiday, and Christmas, in a hotel room in Singapore after a “catalogue of errors” meant the back of her custom-made wheelchair was lost during the first leg of her trip, rendering it unusable.
She flew from Manchester to Dubai on 23 December with the airline before arriving in Singapore on 24 December, but was left unable to leave her bed or complete the next two stops on her country-hopping trip.
She told PA Media: “This was meant to be a holiday of a lifetime which is now turned into a living nightmare.
“I have always tried to live as normal and active a life as possible. Travel always comes with its difficulties but I have never been made to feel so disabled as I do now.”
On Wednesday, Emirates confirmed the missing part of Ms Quinn’s chair had been found, and apologised.
A spokesman told PA: “Emirates wishes to confirm that the missing part of Ms Quinn’s wheelchair has been located in Dubai and is being transported to Singapore on 25 December 2019.
“The part will be handed over to her upon its arrival. Our teams in Dubai and Singapore have made every effort to help Ms Quinn and her family continue on their planned holiday, and we are very sorry for the inconvenience they have experienced.”
Quinn said she would wait until the part had been returned to her before celebrating.
She said: “I have spoken to an Emirates
representative who assured me it’s on its way to me in a flight coming in tonight but I will believe it when I see it.
“I foolishly believed it was on its way when my friend sent me her response from Emirates informing her it was on its way this morning. I was crushed when it didn’t arrive.”
The 35-year-old made headlines nearly a quarter of a century ago after she wrote to Superman actor Christopher Reeve when he was paralysed from the neck down in a horse-riding accident in 1995.
After encouraging the late actor to not give up in the face of his diagnosis, Quinn, who comes from Merseyside, met Diana, Princess of Wales, that same year.
Quinn told PA Media she had been “degraded” by the experience with Emirates after she was informed the back of her chair had been lost after her first flight.
Without the specially moulded back of the chair, she was carried through Dubai airport in a stretcher in order to make her connecting flight.
“It was an absolutely mortifying experience,” Quinn said. “I kept telling all the staff that if they couldn’t find the missing back off my chair then there was no point in me continuing my trip.
“I got the feeling that they just wanted me off the aircraft.
“I eventually very reluctantly agreed to be stretchered to my connecting flight on the promise that they would be working on a solution by the time I landed in Singapore.”
Quinn is supposed to be travelling to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to celebrate the new year before travelling to a beach resort in the country.