New federal requirements show airlines damage thousands of wheelchairs each year

My daughter flies with both her manual chair and tennis chair and never had a problem. Both chairs are gate checked
 
Seems as though one should report damage every time.
I have and do report the damages. I now even take a photo on my phone with a copy of the boarding pass on the seat before and after each flight to help prove the condition of the device in case of damage. I just wish the baggage handlers got better training about mobility devices. They are more than just “baggage” to those of us who rely upon their use.
 
I worry about this every time I fly. I can't walk or even stand up so my wheelchair is how I get around. I use a folding manual chair so I like to think the smaller overall size of the chair when it's folded plus the lighter weight compared to a power chair make it less likely to be damaged. But accidents still do happen.
 


“These medical devices are essentially a part of a disabled person’s body,” Duckworth said. “Imagine if in a single year (that many) people had their legs broken by an airline as a result of flying. The effect is the same.”

1.6% of the equipment transported has been reported as damaged.
 
I agree with everyone.

I try and take photos with my phone before boarding and after arriving.

If there is any damage, I immediately let the airline disability representative know and file a claim before leaving.

I do plan extra time in case this happens.

Now that I am using a folding electric wheelchair, I bought the same company's protective cover made just for my wheelchair.

It seems to help protect it from cosmetic damages, but you never know when they may drop it.

It is shame more care is not taken, but some of the airline luggage employees are outside contractors and not trained or don't have the proper equipment to help lift the wheelchair on the airplane's conveyor belt and unloading it.

But I am lucky and I can also use a walking cane.

I can't even imagine what it would be like to be totally dependant on your wheelchair and then to be without it and trying to get a replacement immediately that fits your needs.
 
“These medical devices are essentially a part of a disabled person’s body,” Duckworth said. “Imagine if in a single year (that many) people had their legs broken by an airline as a result of flying. The effect is the same.”

1.6% of the equipment transported has been reported as damaged.

And sadly, as the report noted, that 1.6% is only the folks who took the time to report it. Who knows what the real numbers are?

I have my own precautions that I take every time I fly with my device, but it's still nerve-wracking, to say the least. I am fortunate to have a complete spare device at home that could be overnighted to me, and I have the financial resources to make repairs if I needed to, but *no one* should ever have to worry about this.

I think the most important thing is to get to your gate early. Check in with the crew working your flight ASAP. The sooner they can get your device downstairs, the better - it means that there is more time to load it - so less chance that a rushed luggage handler will be tempted to just pitch it onto the conveyor belt. It means that it will get placed into the hold earlier, and other gate-checked items will be packed in around it. It won't be thrown on top of strollers and gate-checked luggage at the last moment where it could slide and/or tumble around during flight. If you have ever watched ground crews as they *unload* the hold of a flight, they put things onto the conveyor belt they way they find them in the hold. So if the ground crew at your departing airport laid your wheelchair on it's side, that's how it will come out of the hold, and be placed on the conveyor to come down. I'm not saying that's *correct*, I'm saying that's how it happens a *lot* of the time. Those ground crew members are under time constraints to get that hold emptied (or loaded, depending on where they are in the turnaround cycle) and right, wrong, or indifferent, they grab stuff as it comes. They don't pause to look and see if it's a wheelchair, a stroller or a golf bag dolly. It's just another thing to be loaded or unloaded.

Remove everything and anything that could come off in flight - baskets, bags, cupholders, decorations, lights especially. Remove joysticks, and any controls that you can just before you board the aircraft. If you have a travel bag or padded control covers for your mobility device, use it - and don't worry if it gets dirty or scuffed, because it's doing it's job and protecting your equipment.
 
Yeah, the airlines don't do a good job with wheelchairs. I remember watching the airline load my son's electric wheelchair from inside the airplane 5 or 6 years ago. The chair probably weighed 300lbs. They decided to load it sideways which of course damaged the side of the wheel chair that was laying on the conveyor belt. One of the wheels looked bent and it made a clicking noise when he drove it around. We got it taken care of but it was not a good experience.
 
Last time I flew Spirit, I had a vantage point of how the grounds crew loads the luggage. Well, they had to load a stroller that was being used as a wheelchair (but it wasn’t a “Medical Stroller”, just an everyday type one.), and the people that were loading the plane just THREW it on the conveyor belt like it was like every other piece of luggage. And when we landed in Orlando, the ground crew there did the same thing.

Now, if the grounds crew at every airport treats mobility devices (whether or not they seem apparent) like this, I’m going to travel on an airline that has closets built in the planes that my folding powerchair can fit int, because I’m not risking my $3,000 chair to people who really don’t care if they damage it or not.
 
Last time I flew Spirit, I had a vantage point of how the grounds crew loads the luggage. Well, they had to load a stroller that was being used as a wheelchair (but it wasn’t a “Medical Stroller”, just an everyday type one.), and the people that were loading the plane just THREW it on the conveyor belt like it was like every other piece of luggage. And when we landed in Orlando, the ground crew there did the same thing.

Now, if the grounds crew at every airport treats mobility devices (whether or not they seem apparent) like this, I’m going to travel on an airline that has closets built in the planes that my folding powerchair can fit int, because I’m not risking my $3,000 chair to people who really don’t care if they damage it or not.

The problem is that most airlines that have a "closet" now don't typically have room in that closet for your chair. It *might* accommodate a "standard" folding chair, but it won't be enough space, even for a Fold & Go. And on some planes, that's where the aisle chair is stored - so your chair will be routed down to the hold.

There is no good solution for this until airlines are required to change how they handle ALL personal effects. I say this as both the spouse of an airline employee, and as a traveler who has to hand over her personal mobility device every time she boards an aircraft. There is so much emphasis now on "on time departure" (that couples with "on time arrival" at the other end of the flight) that literally the ground crews have no incentive to take time to be careful with anything that they have load into the plane, and every reason to try and get everything buttoned up so that they can push back, and send that bird out on time.
 
The problem is that most airlines that have a "closet" now don't typically have room in that closet for your chair. It *might* accommodate a "standard" folding chair, but it won't be enough space, even for a Fold & Go. And on some planes, that's where the aisle chair is stored - so your chair will be routed down to the hold.

There is no good solution for this until airlines are required to change how they handle ALL personal effects. I say this as both the spouse of an airline employee, and as a traveler who has to hand over her personal mobility device every time she boards an aircraft. There is so much emphasis now on "on time departure" (that couples with "on time arrival" at the other end of the flight) that literally the ground crews have no incentive to take time to be careful with anything that they have load into the plane, and every reason to try and get everything buttoned up so that they can push back, and send that bird out on time.

I believe you hit the nail on the head for what's part of the issue - time frame for a flight to take off. My last flight was delayed because the plane didn't make it to the right spot out to the runway at the right time. Perhaps airlines should have customers who need large devices loaded arrive extra early to give the grounds crew more time to get the chairs, etc, down to the loading area? Even if the plane isn't there, the devices could be lined up and ready to load.
 
I believe you hit the nail on the head for what's part of the issue - time frame for a flight to take off. My last flight was delayed because the plane didn't make it to the right spot out to the runway at the right time. Perhaps airlines should have customers who need large devices loaded arrive extra early to give the grounds crew more time to get the chairs, etc, down to the loading area? Even if the plane isn't there, the devices could be lined up and ready to load.

That's a great idea. Except... (you knew there was going to be an "except" LOL)

The airport is a lot like Disney World in the respect that *some* of the folks who are using mobility devices can leave them at the gate, and walk down the Jetway, and on to the plane, and that works ok for them.

Others, like me, have to ride down the Jetway, but can take a few steps into the plane to my seat with assistance from my cane and traveling companion.

And some folks will have to roll all the way down to the aircraft door, and transfer to an aisle chair, and then transfer into their airplane seat.

So it's not a one-size-fits-all scenario.

I do agree that for those folks who *can* turn their devices over, the sooner they can do that, they better. You are absolutely correct - the faster they get those devices down to the tarmac, they more time they have to load them. It then becomes a case of trusting that the extra time that mobility users have "granted" the ground crews - by arriving early and being prepared and allowing them to take our devices as soon as possible - is actually used to carefully load our devices.

A lot of the problems come from delays.

Most often, it's weather related, and once they start, the delays can stack fast.

Those weather related delays roll across each airline's system (because a lot of them use a hub-and-spoke model) and as time passes, a small weather delay from an American Eagle flight in Montana that's headed to Chicago can disrupt other flights at O'Hare... and then those delays start to roll across DFW, and Atlanta, and LAX and LaGuardia, and can even affect international flights. Even airlines who don't use the "hub-and-spoke" model can be affected negatively by weather; one plane doesn't take off on time, so it doesn't arrive at it's next location on time, and then they are still late getting to the third airport... It happens regularly, obviously more so during winter months. And every time an airline "holds" a flight to the last moment to accommodate passengers coming in from another delayed flight... the ripples just get bigger and bigger.

So, that's why at a lot of airports, the Gate Agents typically don't start to really work a flight until the aircraft has started it's approach. And if the GAs start saying things like "Folks, we are tight on time, and will turn this equipment around as fast as we can!" it means that everything in those holds will be scraped out as quickly as possible, and they will start throwing bags and loading cargo the moment they have an empty space in the hold. Catering will be loading up new carts and Ground Services will be fueling and checking potable water, etc. even before the plane is half emptied of incoming passengers. It's a frenzied mess, it's literally orchestrated chaos - and it's not at all like the "old days" when a cleaning crew would board the flight, and wipe down tray tables, and fold blankets, and pick up trash, and we would board a (reasonably) clean aircraft while our luggage was nestled carefully in the belly of the plane. Nowadays cleaning usually only happens wherever the bird overnights. There simply isn't time anymore, because cleaning crews take time, and time is money, and everyone wants to fly everywhere, and they want the cheapest airfare they can get, and so the airlines respond by saving time (and money) everywhere they can.

It all comes down to *time*. And I don't know how to fix that...
 
When I flew Alaska Air last month it was emphasized that because I would be gate-checking a wheelchair I was to be ready to board a full 60 minutes before departure time. So there’s obviously an attempt to keep things timely with the pre-pre-boarding. But as you pointed out, @mamabunny , that only works if the plane is there and the crew is ready for boarding. In this case it was and it worked out great.
 

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