Man, 68, Left Stranded After Airline Allegedly Refused to Let Him on Flight Due to Parkinson’s: ‘I Feel So Humiliated’

Man, 68, Left Stranded After Airline Allegedly Refused to Let Him on Flight Due to Parkinson’s: ‘I Feel So Humiliated’

“It’s quite a hard thing to admit, even to yourself, that you are disabled,” former BBC journalist Mark Mardell said

Desiree Anello

Sun, November 30, 2025 at 5:46 PM UTC

4 min read

Chris Williamson/Getty; Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty  Mark Mardell; Turkish Airlines flight (stock image) — Chris Williamson/Getty; Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty
Mark Mardell; Turkish Airlines flight (stock image)

NEED TO KNOW

British journalist Mark Mardell was allegedly turned away from a Turkish Airlines flight due to his Parkinson’s disease
“It’s this terrible feeling that you are so vulnerable, I nearly burst into tears about five times,” the former BBC presenter said
The 68-year-old also alleged that he was left stranded in the airport for seven hours before he ultimately booked a flight home through a different airline the next day

A British journalist was left stranded in an airport for seven hours after he was allegedly turned away from a Turkish Airlines flight due to his Parkinson’s disease.

While traveling back to London from Istanbul after a week-long road trip with his son, 68-year-old Mark Mardell said he was barred from boarding his flight without a letter from his GP stating he was fit to travel.

“I feel so humiliated,” the former BBC presenter and chief political correspondent recently told The Sunday Times. “It’s this terrible feeling that you are so vulnerable. I nearly burst into tears about five times.”

PEOPLE reached out to Turkish Airlines for comment on Sunday, Nov. 30, but did not receive an immediate response.

Parkinson’s disease is a movement disorder of the nervous system that worsens over time, according to the Mayo Clinic. Symptoms include tremors, slow movements, poor posture and balance, loss of automatic movements, speech changes, and non-motor symptoms such as depression and anxiety.

While the Mardell travelled to Istanbul on Oct. 20 with no issues and no request for a doctor’s letter, he ran into the unexpected barrier while requesting assisted boarding during his journey home.

“It’s quite a hard thing to admit, even to yourself, that you are disabled,” he explained to the outlet. “It is quite a thing for me to say: ‘I need assisted boarding, I am handicapped’ … You know it does lower you in the estimation of some people, makes you lesser in their eyes.”

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“We thought they meant originally a letter from your doctor to prove you had Parkinson’s,” he continued. “No, it turns out you can’t fly without a letter from your doctor to say there is no harm in flying.”

After a while, Mardell insisted that his son Jake, 32, board his own flight while he waited for further assistance. And during the seven hours he spent waiting alone at one of the largest airports in the world, Mardell recalled one woman making the experience especially humiliating.

Getty Istanbul Airport — Getty
Istanbul Airport

“There was one woman who was really horrible,” he alleged. “She said, ‘No he has got Parkinson’s, you can’t let him on board.’ She went off to be horrible to some other passenger in a wheelchair and shouted at them.”

“She said, ‘Look at you, your hands are shaking,’ ” he continued. “My hands don’t shake. It’s not one of my symptoms. But maybe they were because I was nervous and upset. It was so mean. She said: ‘It’s for your own good.’ So my bags were taken off the flight.”

Ultimately, another passenger helped Mardell retrieve his bags and his son booked him a hotel to sleep in for the night. The next day, he booked a return flight home with Wizz Air and returned to the U.K. on Oct. 26.

After he contacted Turkish Airlines regarding the experience, an employee allegedly wished him a “speedy recovery,” although Parkinson’s is an incurable disease, and issued him a full refund for the missed flight.

“You are feeling vulnerable anyway and you are staggering around … and I just couldn’t walk anymore. I just wanted to sit down,” Mardell said of the hours he spent waiting at the airport. “The odd thing was that they say it’s for your own good and then they let you stagger around an airport.”

Although Mardell’s flight was operated by a “non-UK/EU carrier,” the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority expressed in a statement, “We strongly believe that everyone should have access to air travel and recognise how important it is for people to feel supported and included when they fly.”

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