We’ve traveled for many years with my daughter’s manual wheelchair.
We gate check it. My husband is in charge of getting her on and I take care of the wheelchair. By the time I’m done with it, it’s more or less a wheelchair ‘skeleton’.
This is copied for you from the disABILITIES Board FAQs thread.
What is gate checking and can I gate check a wheelchair?
Wheelchairs can be gate checked. Ask about this as you check in for your flight. They may give you a gate check tag right away or tell you to check in with the gate agent for gate checking. When you get to the gate, tell the agent there that you want to preboard and ask about gate checking before they start loading. They used to automatically preboard anyone with a wheelchair, but don't always preboard any more unless you ask (some people with disabilities did not want to preboard and felt it discriminated against them to make them preboard).
You will be able to keep your wheelchair until the door of the plane, but wheelchairs are too wide to fit down the aisle. They do have smaller aisle wheelchairs available if you need one (scroll a little farther down for information about aisle chairs).
After getting out of the wheelchair, if there are things that stick out (like cupholders, etc that may be attached) or things that are not screwed or bolted on, it is best to remove and carry them on if you can. My DD's wheelchair seat and back have gel in them, to avoid any problems with them getting too cold or getting pierced during the flight, I remove them and carry them on. Her armrests just lift off, so I lift those off and carry them on too.
I actually carry a large nylon laundry bag to put the wheelchair pieces in after I remove them. The bag folds up very small into a pocket on one of our suitcases and putting things in it helps ensure I have not left anything at the gate. Some people take a picture of the wheelchair with their cell phone or digital camera to prove what condition it was when they left is at the gate. Contrary to popular belief, wheelchairs are not loaded in a separate baggage area; they are packed with other baggage, so damage is possible, although in at least once a year travel for over 20 years, the only damage DD's wheelchair has had was a bent antitip bar.
I've heard that airplanes are required to have space to store one wheelchair on board the plane. How does this work?
All 100 seat or more planes delivered to US airlines since 1992 are supposed to have a closet or alternate FAA approved place to store one folded wheelchair (first come, first serve).
IF the plane has a closet (some airplanes still flying were delivered before that time),
IF your wheelchair can be folded to fit into the area (some are too big)
and IF there is room in the closet when you board, you may put it in the closet/storage area.
Passenger's assistive devices/folded wheelchairs have priority over other over other passengers’ items brought on board
at the same airport. If you do not preboard and the space is filled when you get on the plane, then you are out of luck. Even if you preboard, the space may be filled with items brought on by travelers at an earlier stop.
The new Air Carrier Access Act (May 2009) also added this information:
If the wheelchair is too big for the space while fully assembled, but will fit if wheels or other parts can be removed without the use of tools, the carrier must remove the applicable components and stow the wheelchair in the designated space. The other parts must be stowed in the areas for stowage of carry-on luggage.
The closets/stowage areas are usually better suited for 'basic' foldable wheelchairs that will fold and fit into a fairly narrow space. The new guidelines add a size requirement that was not in previously - providing
"a space of 13 inches by 36 inches by 42 inches without having to remove the wheels or otherwise disassemble it."
This may be too small for some manual wheelchairs, even if wheels can be popped off.
I have taken DD's wheelchair apart and put it in the on-board storage space, but it really needs to pretty much be totally dis-assembled to fit.
So, if you want to try for on-board storage, ask as soon as you check in, pre-board and be prepared to gate check the wheelchair if it doesn't fit.
Using an Aisle Chair
My DD has CP and can't walk. She also can't sit well in any wheelchair except her own.
She stays in her wheelchair until we board (the one she travels with is a manual wheelchair, but it would work generally the same if we took her power chair).
The wheelchair is taken to the gate right to the door of the plane, where she is transferred into an aisle chair (shown in the pictures below). The chairs from different airlines may look a little different, but the basic design is the same. An aisle chair is basically a very narrow wheelchair that can fit down the aisle of the airplane.
Link to larger picture.
The wheelchair and aisle chair are parked tight next to each other, brakes locked and belts unfastened.
Link to larger picture.
The airline staff do a 2 person lift, with one person taking the top half and the other person the legs. They lift DD the short distance from her wheelchair (at the front of the picture) to the aisle chair in the background. Straps are fastened to keep the arms and legs in place and the aisle chair is rolled into the plane.
Link to larger picture.
The process is repeated in reverse to leave the plane.
My DD gets her wheelchair delivered to the arrival gate when we leave the plane - it is brought right to the door of the plane.
Wheelchairs are put in the plane last and unloaded first, but you may still have to wait until the plane is almost empty before your wheelchair is delivered to the gate. Ask the Flight Attendant to let you know when the wheelchair arrives.
At that point, I usually get off so I can put the wheelchair back together before DH brings DD off the plane.
If you need an aisle chair, they will usually make you wait to get off until all the other passengers have gotten off.
Some people who can ride in an airport wheelchair may choose to get their wheelchair delivered to the baggage claim area. Just make sure the baggage claim tag for your wheelchair is marked for the correct place before you board the plane.