I personally feel this is a bit of a media beat-up. I have now worked for two low cost carriers and one legacy carrier all of who have the same policy when it comes to 'disabled' passengers. If the passenger is not mobile enough to move themselves to an emergency exit or self-toilet (get themselves from their seat to the toilet do the business and get themselves back to the seat whether they think they are going to need to go or not) then they must travel with another able bodied passenger who can assist in such circumstances. Over in Europe we called them 'carers' just like hear in Jetstar and Qantas and in Air New Zealand they call them 'special assistants'. Out of interest I had a look at various airline websites last night and ALL of them outlined the same policy including:
Jetstar
Air New Zealand
Qantas
British Airways
Virgin Atlantic
Emirates
United Airlines
I could go on, it would seem to me that the information was there for these two to find, the assertion by Close-up that this was a Jetstar specific policy that is not found anywhere else is just crappola. Now where Jetstar has let itself down again is in the way the message was delivered!! Bloody disgusting is the only phrase that comes to mind in that respect, this should have been sorted a check-in, I assume they were just delivered to the aircraft for the crew to sort out which led to the whole awkward situation of being on the jetty whilst the poor old Captain was presented with this debacle on a 30 minute turn around. Poor show ground staff, poor show.
The message has to get across though, this is not discriminatory towards people in wheelchairs, this policy is there to ensure the comfort of the wheelchair bound passenger and the safety of everyone else in the case of an emergency. Simple as. Could you imagine the outcry if an imobile person was allowed to travel on their own and then ended up soiling themselves in their seat as the crew couldn't get them to the toilet in time due to carrying out other duties.
