FORMER BBC presenter Mark Mardell says he was left “humiliated” after Turkish Airlines refused to let him board a flight because he has Parkinson’s disease.
The 68-year-old journalist had travelled to Turkey with his son, Jake, 32, for a road trip and encountered no issues flying out on Wizz Air on October 20.
But on their return, airline staff blocked him from boarding unless he produced a doctor’s letter declaring him fit to fly.
With no such requirement mentioned beforehand, Mardell suddenly found himself stranded as his son was forced to take a separate flight home.
“Let’s be clear: this isn’t about paperwork. It’s prejudice dressed up as policy,” he wrote on Facebook.
“It’s ignorant, insulting, and frankly medieval.”
He added: “Rest assured, I wasn’t drunk, violent, or even late. No, my sin was having Parkinson’s.”
According to Mardell, staff insisted the letter must explicitly confirm that he was safe to fly.
One female employee even remarked “look at you, your hands are shaking.”
The former BBC editor told The Times: “I feel so humiliated.”
“It’s this terrible feeling that you are so vulnerable. I nearly burst into tears about five times.”
Although shaking is a known symptom of Parkinson’s, Mardell said the tremors staff observed were caused by stress, not his condition.
His primary symptoms, he explained, are a weak voice and slow movement.
With no assistance from the airline, another passenger eventually stepped in, helping him retrieve his luggage from a different part of the airport.
Jake later arranged a hotel for his father and booked him onto a Wizz Air flight the following day – an airline that asked for no medical documentation.
After arriving home in one piece, he filed a complaint with Turkish Airlines.
In response, he said one employee wished him a “speedy recovery” despite Parkinson’s being incurable.
Turkish Airlines’ website states that passengers with Parkinson’s may only travel with “a doctor’s report stating that there is no harm in traveling by plane.”
But according to the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), such a blanket policy is unlawful.
While UK carriers can request medical proof only when there is “reasonable doubt” that a passenger can fly safely without assistance, the CAA has no power to enforce these rules on Turkish Airlines, which is not a UK or EU carrier.
On Wednesday, Mardell said the airline phoned him offering a full refund for his missed flight.
The incident has prompted wider criticism.
On Thursday, Caroline Rassell, chief executive of Parkinson’s UK, wrote to Turkish Airlines boss Bilal Eksi to deride the “ill-informed” and “totally unnecessary” policy.
She added that it is rooted in “a misunderstanding of this condition.”
Mardell, from Banstead, Surrey, spent 25 years at the BBC.
He serving as Europe and North America editor and hosting The World This Weekend on BBC Radio 4 – before leaving in 2020.
He is now one of six presenters of Movers and Shakers, a popular podcast documenting life with Parkinson’s.
