Scooter on Airplane

My mother uses a scooter for longer distances. She has purchased a "travel scooter" which is airline approved (gel cell) and weighs less than 100 lbs. It has worked wonders on the cruises with no flying, however, the next 2 cruises are in Europe and I am wondering what to do? She can walk short distances. I am concerned it will get damaged or lost during the changes in airplanes and airlines. Are there any websites to check out? Thanks in advance.

Hi,

I haven't taken mine to Europe, but I have flown with it about ten times. We made copies of the assembly/disassembly instructions, and wired them onto the basket. I put address stickers everywhere I could think of putting them underneath. I taped a note to the back, warning people not to pick up the scooter by the seat, and my husband now SHOWS the airline folks which connections are the ones to the battery, and tapes them himself, if they will let him. One time, we found connections so tightly taped, that we had to find an employee with sharp nails to cut them off..........no knife, etc, with us. One time only, it had damage to the wiring, and the airline paid to have it fixed........it was still drivable, just wouldn't turn right. Made things interesting........luckily it was the flight home. It is wonderful to be able to take it with me, and the airline staff are usually very accommodating. I ride it to the gate, and then give it up. I have it brought up to the gate if we have a long wait time at an airport between flights, but usually, they just bring it up to the gate when we arrive at our destination. I don't know of any websites, but each airline's website usually has a section for special needs or something like that. You could also call and ask, but often the reservations agent isn't up to speed. You can ask to speak to a "specialist" in special needs.

Hi,

... It is wonderful to be able to take it with me, and the airline staff are usually very accommodating. I ride it to the gate, and then give it up. I have it brought up to the gate if we have a long wait time at an airport between flights, but usually, they just bring it up to the gate when we arrive at our destination. I don't know of any websites, but each airline's website usually has a section for special needs or something like that. You could also call and ask, but often the reservations agent isn't up to speed. You can ask to speak to a "specialist" in special needs.

Hi DesrtDrmr,

I have a small Scooter, a Pride Go-Go that I use for longer distances. I haven't tried to go by air with it yet. It is comforting to know that you can ride it to the gate. Then what do they do, take it to the hold with the baggage? You don't have to pack it in any way? This is exciting news to me. Do you leave the key and everything just as it is when you get off at the gate?

How does it work when you have to use the tender to go ashore?

Thanks for posting this information,

Iris

Hi Iris,

They DO take the scooter and put it down below. They fold up whatever folds, but there is no packing involved UNLESS you have wet cell batteries. I always keep my key. If they have to move it, they put it into free wheel mode, or take the key and bring it back to me. (I also have a spare key- just in case)

A tender is a different story. I've not been on any ship that lets you take scooters on the tender. I heard that there is one line that has accessible tenders, but I haven't seen one. On a cruise, we usually take, if we're driving, or rent, if we're flying, a folding wheelchair to use for shore excursions. We have rented from CareVacations.com, and they have had the chair in our cabin when we boarded, and we leave it there when we disembark. You can also rent a scooter, if you wish, and not travel with your own. I like having my scooter at the airport, as well as renting a wheelchair only, which is less expensive than renting a scooter.

Hopefully, some others will share their experiences...........

We have flown with my husband's power chair four times to Europe and have found that not only do the airlines differ in how they handle chairs/scooters, but there can be difference in how the same airline handles it in different airports. In all these flights his chair was only damaged once. Since it was just a cracked battery case, the chair worked in spite of the damage and the airline replaced the case after we returned home.

A few cautions though. Hopefully this will not happen to you since your travel scooter is relatively light, but in most airports (Heathrow, Barcelona and Amsterdam) my husband's chair was sent to baggage rather than brought back to the plane. This is an issue anytime because my 6' 2" husband's legs are too long for many airline chairs, but it was a major issue when we changed planes in Heathrow because it meant that we would have to go through immigration to get the chair. After much discussion (and yelling from my husband who was in pain because of the too small chair), our escort sent someone to bring the chair to us. On the way back we avoided the problem by using his manual chair and checking the power chair through.

Thank you all for the information. I guess the best approach is to be over-prepared for any issues that might arise. We are on the Star Princess r/t out of Copenhagen and I have booked our own air on SAS business class. As the date gets closer, I will try to contact someone at SAS for their exact policy.

Well I posted this once, apparently it was deleted.

website to check out:

http://emerginghorizons.com/book/sample.html

sample chapter from my book with some free info about how to protect your wheelchair/scooter in the air.

Candy

Hi Candy,

I read that article when it was posted before, and thought it had some wonderful tips. That's when I knew to wire on a copy of my scooters directions.......I just photocopied them right from the book, and I do carry my basket on board. Having the directions has come in handy several times. Can't afford a carrier crate, but it WOULD be nice if the airlines had them............ :)

Thanks for all of the good advice you share on these boards.

Thank you all for the information. I guess the best approach is to be over-prepared for any issues that might arise. We are on the Star Princess r/t out of Copenhagen and I have booked our own air on SAS business class. As the date gets closer, I will try to contact someone at SAS for their exact policy.

Hi Trey,

Long time no see. How is Jeanne? Seems a long time ago last March on the Star Princess that she was saying hello to me from her balcony down to ours.

Re scooters, as you know, Marion drives one for the last 25 years and in the 16 trips we have taken since 1989 encompassing our 31 cruises so far, we have seldom ever had a problem with either of the scooters she has had.

Only once was there ever damage; on her first one she rode for 15 years. British Airways managed to squash the brake lever arm on a flight from Copenhagen to London, and did pay for a new one. It had no effect on being able to keep on riding, as it was only a static brake to lock the wheel when stopped.

One other thing that happened was more alarming than damaging. On a flight to San Juan through frosty Chicago in a January winter, the scooter would not operate at the airport in San Juan. So we used the manual wheel chair and hauled the scooter along with the luggage to the hotel. After checking in and getting ready to roll the scooter to the elevator, it suddenly started up again. What had happened, of course, was that the dead cold electronics had been flooded with condensation in San Juan's humidity and as soon as they dried out everything was fine. I think nowadays that some things are put in heated baggage bays as we have never encountered the problem again.

So we would encourage anyone with a scooter not to worry too much about carrying it on an airplane. Although that's one more reason for having comprehensive insurance when one travels. There certainly are some horror stories out there, but in general, I think the airlines do a good job with the scooters.

We no longer have to remove the batteries as they insisted on years ago and pack them in a separate box. I just pull the connectors and put blanks on each of the four ends and that seems to be satisfactory.

Enjoy your trip to Copenhagen and say hello to Jeanne for me. Ken

Hi Trey' date='

Long time no see. How is Jeanne? Seems a long time ago last March on the Star Princess that she was saying hello to me from her balcony down to ours.

 

Re scooters, as you know, Marion drives one for the last 25 years and in the 16 trips we have taken since 1989 encompassing our 31 cruises so far, we have seldom ever had a problem with either of the scooters she has had.

Only once was there ever damage; on her first one she rode for 15 years. British Airways managed to squash the brake lever arm on a flight from Copenhagen to London, and did pay for a new one. It had no effect on being able to keep on riding, as it was only a static brake to lock the wheel when stopped.

 

One other thing that happened was more alarming than damaging. On a flight to San Juan through frosty Chicago in a January winter, the scooter would not operate at the airport in San Juan. So we used the manual wheel chair and hauled the scooter along with the luggage to the hotel. After checking in and getting ready to roll the scooter to the elevator, it suddenly started up again. What had happened, of course, was that the dead cold electronics had been flooded with condensation in San Juan's humidity and as soon as they dried out everything was fine. I think nowadays that some things are put in heated baggage bays as we have never encountered the problem again.

 

So we would encourage anyone with a scooter not to worry too much about carrying it on an airplane. Although that's one more reason for having comprehensive insurance when one travels. There certainly are some horror stories out there, but in general, I think the airlines do a good job with the scooters.

 

We no longer have to remove the batteries as they insisted on years ago and pack them in a separate box. I just pull the connectors and put blanks on each of the four ends and that seems to be satisfactory.

 

Enjoy your trip to Copenhagen and say hello to Jeanne for me. Ken[/quote']

HEY! Jeanne told me to pull up the old info to find your email address. She has so many questions. Glad you saw the post.

Jeanne is doing fine. Just getting older and the ailments are getting worse. She still, obviously, is travelling. You can email her jeannezerb@aol.com she would love to hear from you.