United Airlines issued an apology after an incident in which a man with cerebral palsy crawled from his airline seat through the airplane because he had to use the bathroom.

D’Arcee Neal, 29, of Washington, D.C., was returning on a United Airlines flight from San Francisco and told CBS that a mixup at the gate left him without a wheelchair that would fit in the aisles to get him off the plane.

He waited 15 minutes for the other passengers to get off the plane, and then waited longer for the wheelchair that never came, but he needed to use the bathroom.

“I lifted up the armrests and got out of my chair and got down on my hands and knees and started crawling up the aisleway,” Neal said. “Pride takes a back seat when you have to use the bathroom.”

Neal said he didn’t complain, but said United Airlines has apologized and offered him a $300 voucher for a future flight.

Neal is a former disability rights activist now working for the U.S. Department of Labor. He was ironically visiting San Francisco to meet with Uber about accessibility.

© 2015 Orlando Sentinel
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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