A mother of two wheelchair users has hit out at an airline after they failed to provide her son with an aisle wheelchair and she was forced to drag him down the aisle to the bathroom on a recent flight.

Heike Fabig is demanding change and rightly so.

She is demanding answers and a resolution so no other family goes through what hers did.

Heike and her son, Kai.

A family holiday to Fiji was always going to take lots of planning for a family with two children using wheelchairs, but Heike Fabig and her husband were prepared they made sure that Virgin Australia were aware of their needs.

The trip, last September was meant to be as she writes on her blog, Rollercoaster Parenting a “much needed holiday to Fiji”.

What took place left her reeling and she is now demanding that all airlines have an aisle wheelchair on board every flight.

Heike’s 14-year old son, Kai suffers from spastic paraplegia and the rare disorder Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy.

Heike Fabig

On her blog she describes him as “the alphabet kid (HSP, ASD, OCD, BD, Anxiety and a very beautiful soul)”

It’s a distressing tale she tells of what occurred on board that flight last September. She wrote on her blog that they were assured they would be able to take the wheelchairs to the door of the plane and that, yes, there would be an aisle chair available.

She says that boarding was a relatively simple affair.

Two hours into the flight she then asked the attendant if they could be brought the aisle chair so that she could take Kai, who she calls Beaver in her blog, to the bathroom.

On her blog she describes what happened next

Heike told The Daily Mail that she was stunned at the suggestion, not just from the flight attendants but also from other passengers that she change him on his seat.

“It just beggars belief, Don’t these people have children? “

Heike said that faced with no other alternative she carried her son, dragging him up the aisle.

“So I lifted him up and carried him. Well, dragged him. Can’t quite carry a 50 kg dead weight person in a narrow aisle. My bad.”

She says that the flight attendant was actually mortified and wrote a report as well as assuring them it would not happen on the return flight.

But disappointingly exactly the same thing happened.

Kai ( from RollercoasterParenting)

She told The Daily Mail “They’re actually really good in getting you onto the plane (via wheelchair).

“Once you’re there you can just pee your pants.”

Heike contacted Virgin Australia via Twitter and email.

Initially she received no response until she was re-tweeted last year by the late Stella Young.

She wrote on her blog “Seriously, if my son’s dignity wasn’t involved in all this, I would be sorely tempted to let him shit his pants and see what happens…”

Finally they emailed her saying “I apologise on behalf of the Virgin Group of airlines for the stress and inconvenience caused to you and your son.

“As per our discussion we do take this matter very seriously.

“However, whilst we remain focused on obtaining an outcome, I’m unable to provide a specific date for resolution.”

But really Virgin Australia how is that good enough?

Heike wants an aisle wheelchair provided on every flight and more than just a series of letters with non-answers.

In a letter to the CEO of Virgin Australia, John Borghetti she writes

We will keep you updated with their response.