Pregnant woman loses claim

A heavily pregnant woman who was refused permission to fly home from a family holiday has lost her claim for discrimination.

Catrina Kelly took the Panorama Holidays group to the Equality Tribunal alleging discrimination on family status grounds for their refusal to allow her on an aircraft following a two-week holiday abroad.

Ms Kelly was seven months (30 weeks) pregnant at the time.

Equality officer Dolores Kavanagh held that it was proper to seek medical clearance given Ms Kelly's stage of pregnancy.

In a written judgment she stated: "There were concerns about the physical welfare of the complainant, her unborn child and the potential effect on other passengers and airline staff should she encounter any difficulties as a result of her pregnancy on the return flight.

"I am satisfied that the respondent and/or airline carrier would take similar precautions in a range of situations involving potential medical difficulties."

However, she also stated that Panorama had not set out in its travel literature what was required of a pregnant woman in Ms Kelly's circumstances, and she recommended that the tour operator take immediate steps to rectify this.

Ms Kelly alleged that when she left Dublin for her holiday, accompanied by her family, she was asked at the desk how pregnant she was. She told them she was 28 weeks pregnant and would be returning in two weeks.

She said she was not told at the airport that she would need to provide documentation as to her fitness to undertake the flight home.

However, when she reached the airport for the return journey, she was told that she was "not cleared to fly" and would need to obtain a medical certificate to that effect.

She attended a clinic, but was told that it did not have the authority to issue her with such a certificate, and she missed her flight home.

The incident took place on March 7th, 2004, but the location was not disclosed by the Equality Tribunal.

Ms Kavanagh accepted Panorama's defence that it was not clear that it was one of its representatives that had refused her permission to fly.

She said that airlines, at all times, retain the right to make decisions as to who can fly with them and in that capacity are not acting as an agent for the travel company.