Disabled man 'booted off' flight after dispute over his wheelchair aid

A wheelchair user was removed from his flight home over a disability aid after an ‘undignified’ confrontation with airline staff.

Shane Hryhorec, an activist and travel blogger, was flying with Virgin Australia when new restrictions proved problematic for his wheelchair aid.

He was preparing to fly from Sydney to Adelaide but ended up in a 20-minute back-and-forth with crew, grounding takeoff for the rest of the passengers.

Hryhorec, 41, is a C5 incomplete quadriplegic, with paralysis in his legs and torso, as well as impact on his hand function.

He uses a battery-powered removable SmartDrive device to push his wheelchair, allowing him to travel without someone pushing him.

However, due to new restrictions on lithium-ion batteries, it could no longer be placed in the overhead storage and had to be placed by his feet.

Kicked off a Virgin Australia plane today. ✈️♿️ I boarded my flight from Sydney to Adelaide with my wheelchair, SmartDrive and service dog, just as I have on multiple Virgin flights over the past week. The problem was the seat Virgin had allocated me. There was nowhere safe to secure my SmartDrive without it rolling around near my service dog. I asked for another solution, including moving seats or securing it elsewhere on the aircraft. Instead, I was offloaded from the plane in front of everyone. I didn’t choose that seat. The airline put me there. Yet I was the person removed when the setup they provided didn’t work. This is exactly why so many people with disabilities have anxiety about flying. It’s 2026. Disabled passengers shouldn’t have to fight this hard simply to get on a plane and get home. I’m angry, upset and genuinely shocked by how this was handled today. More to come.

Unfortunately, the middle seat Hryhorec was in had no underseat storage, blocked by the business class seat in front, and his service dog was taking up the neighbouring footwell.

‘There was a barrier in front of me, which meant there was absolutely nowhere for a SmartDrive or a bag to go, and then in the (aisle) seat next to me was a passenger,’ he told 7News.

The SmartDrive has omnidirectional wheels, so it would not have stayed in place throughout the flight and could have potentially hit his dog.

Hryhorec continued: ‘The airline was instructing me to either put it under the seat in front of me, which is literally not possible, or I had to get off the plane.’

He told the Australian outlet he ‘felt like a burden’ and was ’embarrassed’ knowing the issue was holding up the whole plane.

‘All of this was happening whilst people were watching,’ the activist added. ‘It was just … so undignifying as well, and it just truly makes you feel disabled’.

In a TikTok video, which has now been viewed over 8million times, Hryhorec – who runs charity Accessible Beaches Australia – documented the clash with the airline staff.

‘I’ve just flown three times in the last four days,’ he told an off-screen staff member in the video, who replied, ‘I don’t believe that’, before offering to speak to the Captain.

Hryhorec added he’d had ‘no issues’ with Virgin Australia in the past four flights, to which one female attendant replied: ‘They’ve done the wrong thing then, just to accommodate you.’

One staff member did attempt to provide solutions, offering to strap the device under an empty seat but the other attendant said that wasn’t possible.

The customer experience manager, Jenna, told him: ‘It’s your battery sir, it needs to go under your seat,’ as he tried to explain there was nowhere to put it.

He explained that even a bag, without the issue of wheels, would not fit in the space they were suggesting it needed to go.

As the debate continued, Hryhorec reminded the staff that he had not chosen to sit in that seat but did not need to keep his mobility aid near him during the flight.

The crew member asked if he was happy to move to a smaller seat with less room, to which the now-frustrated activist responded that he ‘doesn’t care’ as long as he can sit with room for his service dog.

Realising the dog would have to move with him, the woman said she was ‘unable to delay the flight anymore’ and began discussing removing him from the plane.

After he was ‘booted off’ – which he called ’embarrassing’ and ‘upsetting’ – the attendant continued to explain why they had made the decision but Hryhorec said he needed space to calm down.

He was put on a later flight, with the SmartDrive placed in a bag in an empty neighbouring footwell.

To 7News, the travel blogger added: ‘It’s become quite clear after this experience … that Virgin Australia just doesn’t care about people with disabilities.

Virgin Australia has released a statement in response to his video, confirming it was aware of the incident.

A spokesperson said: ‘Virgin Australia remains committed to providing an accessible and inclusive travel experience for all our guests.

‘While the safety of our guests and crew is always our highest priority, we are reviewing the circumstances of yesterday’s experience to understand whether there are opportunities to better identify specific seating or stowage requirements in advance and how our teams can support guests in similar circumstances.

‘We have reached out to Mr Hryhorec to find out more about his experience and we are reviewing the circumstances that led to this unfortunate outcome for one of our guests.’

Hryhorec has not commented publicly on the situation since but did say he was considering reaching out to the Australian Human Rights Commission.

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