Airline apologizes after a woman says she was forced to crawl off a plane because staff couldn't provide a wheelchair

• A woman says she was forced to crawl off a plane after staff couldn't provide a wheelchair for her.
• Natalie Curtis was traveling from Singapore to Bangkok with the Australian budget airline, Jetstar.

An airline has apologized after a woman was forced to crawl off a plane because staff couldn't provide a wheelchair in time for her to disembark a flight.

Natalie Curtis was traveling from Singapore to Bangkok, Thailand, on the last leg of a journey from Townsville, Queensland, with Australian budget airline, Jetstar, when the incident occurred.

Curtis told the Australian Channel 7 breakfast show, Sunrise, that she was offered a standard aisle wheelchair to board the flight in Singapore.

When Curtis arrived in Bangkok, she said staff told her she would have to pay to use another chair to get off the plane, which she refused to do. Jetstar has denied that there was a request for payment.

Curtis told the news channel that the incident may have resulted from a language barrier between herself and airline staff.

Since her traveling companion had a knee injury and was unable to assist her, Curtis said she was left with little option but to make her way off the flight by dragging herself down the aisle. Curtis shared a video of the incident with 7NEWS Brisbane.

Curtis also posted about the incident in a Facebook group, saying that she had "never felt so degraded" in her life.

Insider has reached out to Curtis for comment.

A spokesperson for Jetstar told Insider the airline had apologized for the incident and clarified that it did not charge for wheelchair use.

They said: "We are committed to providing a safe and comfortable travel experience for all our customers, including those requiring specific assistance."

The spokesperson continued: "Regrettably, this was not the case for Ms. Curtis following a miscommunication that resulted in the delay of an aisle chair being made available at the gate on arrival and we are looking into what happened as a matter of urgency."

"At no point was an aisle chair withheld due to a request for payment. Our customer team has contacted Ms. Curtis to better understand her experience and to offer her a refund, as well as additional compensation," they added.

Wheelchair users have reported facing multiple other issues during flights. These include airlines losing or damaging their chairs.

In August, a woman said she was left "humiliated" during a flight after the captain told passengers the plane was delayed due to her wheelchair.