A disabled passenger says he was barred from boarding a flight after he missed check-in by three minutes when his electric wheelchair broke down. Philip Patston says he encounters frequent problems travelling through Auckland Airport and is speaking out after a report in yesterday's Herald about an Air NZ frequent flyer who refused to give up her front-row seat for paraplegic Tanya Black. An aisle chair needed to transport Ms Black to row three was not initially available. Mr Patston, who has cerebral palsy, was scheduled to travel on an Air NZ flight to Wellington last Friday with two colleagues but was held up when his chair malfunctioned. He said he was "rudely told" by check-in staff that he would be placed on the following flight. But there was no air bridge to accommodate him as he wasn't expected on the flight, and he had to be forklifted on to the aircraft from the tarmac. Mr Patston, a comedian and head of advocacy group Diversity NZ, has complained to the airline...Air NZ said last night that it would respond to Mr Patston directly.