Airline damaged assistance devices

I just thought I'd share with everyone my recent experience with traveling and bringing both a walker (rollator) and scooter. Since I used the scooter through the airport I decided to go ahead and let the airline check it to ago to my final destination.

At the end of my cruise on Saturday we decided to try luggage direct. I told them one of the checked items would be my walker and they agreed to this and accepted it. We used American Airlines for our flights. Unfortunately due to mechanical delays we did not make it home on Saturday, the airline put us up in a hotel overnight and them we finally met up with our luggage on Sunday. The moment we went to pick it up they had a representative waiting to meet us and talk to me. My walker took some serious damage, the managed to break of the solid plastic break/handle on one side. They took this very seriously and we're just waiting for me to show up so they could start a claim. It would appear that luggage direct delivered it to American in this condition. They called and started a claim for me and arranged for a rental to be delivered to my house the very next day. Today they delivered a brand new nova zoom 20" rollator to me to replace my old one. They didn't flinch or give me any push back and took the problem seriously. I was impressed worth how quickly it was fully resolved. I assume they wanted no trouble from ada so that influenced things, but as a fairly new handicapped person I was amazed at just how fast everything happened. :)

Has anyone else had similar experiences?

Kudos to American! and to you for posting :)

It's rare that we get to see GOOD experiences on here.

Nice to hear this. My sister has had her scooter damaged by various airlines more times than we can count. Some are better than others.

Nice to hear this. My sister has had her scooter damaged by various airlines more times than we can count. Some are better than others.

Now this worries me as I just purchased a scooter for the specific purpose of traveling. We did also get a lift on the back of our car so some trips won't involve airplanes. BUT I do love Vegas and have to go there by plane so I'll be checking the scooter. Guess Ill just have to hope for the best.

Now this worries me as I just purchased a scooter for the specific purpose of traveling. We did also get a lift on the back of our car so some trips won't involve airplanes. BUT I do love Vegas and have to go there by plane so I'll be checking the scooter. Guess Ill just have to hope for the best.

I always gate check my scooter. I have never had a problem. The walker was checked to the final destination where it was no longer in my view or control, I won't do that again. I think they take greater care with gate checked items since it's last loaded and first off while you wait for it.

With Southwest the "last on, first off" definitely isn't the rule. I don't see when it goes on, but I know it isn't the first thing off.

M.

I always gate check my scooter. I have never had a problem. The walker was checked to the final destination where it was no longer in my view or control, I won't do that again. I think they take greater care with gate checked items since it's last loaded and first off while you wait for it.

I have traveled many times with various things from crutches to scooters to custom wheelchairs. I have not had any damage on any of it from the airlines. Now Disney World is a whole nother story! They have damaged my scooter twice!

Now this worries me as I just purchased a scooter for the specific purpose of traveling. We did also get a lift on the back of our car so some trips won't involve airplanes. BUT I do love Vegas and have to go there by plane so I'll be checking the scooter. Guess Ill just have to hope for the best.

I think it's a crapshoot. She always gate checks her Luggie (it's a small scooter that fits in the back of her Prius). Her most recent trip (last week NYC-SLC) was totally uneventful. However, two trips previous to that the scooter was broken each time. The airline took care of things, but it was the inconvenience. In New Orleans this summer, they broke the scooter upon arrival so they rented her a scooter to use but they fixed it while she was still in NOLA. The trip before (San Francisco) it was broken upon returning home and she didn't discover it was broken until she got home and tried to close it up.

Good luck!!

I just thought I'd share with everyone my recent experience with traveling and bringing a walker (rollator)

This last October, we traveled from Honolulu to Barcelona on United Airlines.

We checked the rollator as baggage. United carefully wrapped the rollator in plastc and it made it to Barcelona without anhy problems - we flew straight through but with three changes of planes.

In coming home, we had to fly through Franfurt with Lufthansa which just tossed the rollator on the conveyer belt without any wrapping or protection. It came back home with multiple scratches and a dent.

I just called to let them know that everything was good with the replacement and found out I now own two rollators! Lol. The "rental" they got me on the first 24 hours was just a purchase and is also mine to keep as a back up.

I think it's a crapshoot. She always gate checks her Luggie (it's a small scooter that fits in the back of her Prius). Her most recent trip (last week NYC-SLC) was totally uneventful. However, two trips previous to that the scooter was broken each time. The airline took care of things, but it was the inconvenience. In New Orleans this summer, they broke the scooter upon arrival so they rented her a scooter to use but they fixed it while she was still in NOLA. The trip before (San Francisco) it was broken upon returning home and she didn't discover it was broken until she got home and tried to close it up.

 

Good luck!!

Now I'm curious as to exactly what they broke on the scooter?

Now I'm curious as to exactly what they broke on the scooter?

The luggie has two brackets on the base that, when released, allow you to fold the scooter in half. She never closes the scooter. So when she gate checked it, evidently not knowing how to close it, the airline forced the scooter closed, which broke the brackets. The first time it happened she didn't realize it until a week later. She got it fixed on her own since she couldn't prove it was the airline. The next time it happened she immediately noticed it was broken (fortunately on her return flight). She took it to her local repair place (the place she bought it). They fixed it and the airline covered all the charges.

 

In coming home, we had to fly through Franfurt with Lufthansa which just tossed the rollator on the conveyer belt without any wrapping or protection. It came back home with multiple scratches and a dent.

Ahh!! Frankfurt. - They don't seem to have a very good track record.

We flew in on Delta (Northwest at the time) and watched as the spare battery pack (along with the charging module) fell off of the conveyor as it was coming out of a 747 - so it was a long drop. Destroyed the spare batteries and totally flattened the charger. While the airline did replace everything after we got home, we had to find a way to charge the scooter batteries while on the trip - wound up getting a small car charger that we gave to the bell hop at our hotel at the end of our vacation.

Luckily we always bring spare batteries along with the standard ones that are in the scooter, so the ones that were destroyed were the spares.

I have made many trips with my Travelscoot with various airlines and have not had any problems at all. We have flown many times with Air Canada and once with West Jet and a few others. Not a scratch with any of them and I can drive it right up to the door of the plane and it's there when I get off the plane so I can "scoot" into the terminal.

I usually have my carry-on (with wheels) in my left hand and I use the right hand for the acceleration and brake. Would not leave home without it.

I flew American and they broke my mom's walker. We were treated wonderfully. They bought my mom a brand new walker.

It's nice to hear stories where the airline stepped up. Glad to hear everything turn out well.