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aruda Indonesia recently received an award for the world'€™s best economy class, but has been criticized by the United Nations for failure to serve people with special needs, particularly wheelchair-bound passengers.

Shuaib Chalklen, the UN'€™s special rapporteur on disability, examines accessibility for disabled people.

He shared his unpleasant experience traveling from Jakarta to Yogyakarta with Garuda earlier this month.

'€œWhen I landed in Yogyakarta, there wasn'€™t any proper equipment to take me from the aircraft to my wheelchair. The aisle in the aircraft is very narrow, so my wheelchair did not fit,'€ said South African Chalklen, a human rights campaigner.

'€œAircraft should have a cabin wheelchair, a small wheelchair that fits in the aisle, so I can transfer to the cabin wheelchair, go to my own wheelchair, get in it, and proceed on my own. Garuda does not have such a wheelchair in Yogyakarta,'€ he said.

Shuaib was carried by crew members from the aircraft to his wheelchair.

'€œWhen I returned to Jakarta, they had to carry me onto the plane, up the steps, which is not a dignified way to doing things, and is dangerous,'€ he told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview.

Chalklen concluded that Garuda is not properly equipped to deal with disabled people and should immediately change it procedure.

'€œFirst, they must train people properly and have proper equipment,'€ he said. '€œI travel frequently in Africa, and if African countries have the equipment, there'€™s no reason why Garuda cannot,'€ he said.

Garuda recently received awards from Skytrax, an airline review and ranking consultant, for the world'€™s best economy class and best economy class airline seat. Last year, Skytrax named Garuda the best regional airline in the world, based on a survey of 18 million passengers from 100 countries.

Garuda spokesperson Ikhsan Rosan denied that Garuda lacked the equipment to support people with disabilities, saying that Garuda provided an Ambulift (allowing disabled passengers board aircraft without being physically carried), wheelchair transporters and cabin wheelchairs. The equipment is only available for large carriers and is mainly used for international flights.

'€œOur large aircraft are all equipped with cabin wheelchairs, which is essential to transport people with special needs to the toilet, for example, during long-haul flights,'€ Ikhsan told the Post.

'€œThat equipment is not available for smaller aircraft,'€ he added, without explaining why not.

Ikhsan also said that Garuda'€™s aircraft have procedures to give passengers with special needs front seats and unload all passengers on the aerobridge.

'€œThere are certain situations, including when the airport is full, that means we cannot unload the passengers on the aerobridge,'€ he said. '€œIn that situation, we have to physically carry disabled passengers down the steps. However, our crews are all well trained and are able carry them safely,'€ Ikhsan said.