Airport travel with a power wheelchair

I'm taking a cruise to Alaska on Celebrity (Summit). I will have to work with 3 airlines to make the trip. This is my first cruise and my first attempt at air travel with a power (non-collapsible) wheelchair.

I have notiified the airlines about my special needs, but after talking with them, I can see there may be problems ahead.

I could use some assistance from other wheelchair travelers. Can you offer some tips that would assist me in the process of disabled air travel? I'm sure there are some "common sense" items that I haven't even thought of. Any info would be appreciated.

Thank you.

54wheels

That's a tough one. The airlines are very rough on wheelchairs so that's something you have to be prepared for---a damaged chair once you arrive at the final destination. Have you considered taking a manual chair for the airport? It might be easier to manuever than a big power chair. They will probably have to put you into one of those thin aisle chairs to get you onto the plane, as a power chair cannot make it through the cabin door. I also hope you have lots of time between flights---nothing less than an hour because you have to have time for them to get your chair from the baggage hold (they will make you wait until the plane is completely cleared before you can leave), you have to get to the next gate and have early boarding, plus you need to factor any flight delays so that hour is really important. With all that, you really need an hour is really a necessity.

As for Alaska, being in a power chair might have some problems. In Ketchikan, the gangway is the steepest I've ever experienced, and that might make it nearly impossible to get you off the ship at that port. Also, if you're in a tendered port, and if it's rough water, you will not be allowed off the ship due to safety concerns for you and the crew, so that's another thing you have to be prepared for.

I just flew this month with my 7 year old son who uses a powerchair. It wasn't for a cruise unfortunately :mad: We have flown with his manual chair many times but this was the first time with his powerchair.

It was no big deal. We let the airline know ahead of time that he would have the chair. (Don't forget to ask for the bulkhead seats, they are designated for handicapped seating). He drove the chair right up to the airplane door where I put it into manual mode. (At this point you could use the narrow wheelchair to get onto the plane but Noah is still small enough for me to carry so I just carried him on the plane.)

It only took a few minutes after each flight for his chair to be brought back to the gate - except for in Detroit where it took 25 minutes for some reason. There was no damage to his chair -- not even a scratch (same with his manual chair when we traveled with it).

One tip -- make sure your wheelchair batteries are marked with their type. Noah's chair has sealed gel batteries so there is no need to take them off the chair. But since they weren't marked on two of the flights they took them off. They weigh 85 lbs each and I had no idea of how to put them back on -- luckily there were very helpful pilots on both flights who helped me reassembly everything (after the ground crew just dumped everything off). A simple sticker on the chair would have kept this from happening -- I'll make sure we have them next time we travel.

HTH and have a great trip

Thank you Darcie for responding to my request with valuable info. I will consider all the points you discussed. Thanks for your time and effort.

Terri

Good stuff, Lorilou. Thank you. I will definitely mark the batteries before I turn over my chair at the airport. It's reassuring that it's "no big deal" traveling with a power chair, if you do your homework. Again, thanks for your response.

Terri

Also between flights ask for airport wheelchair if possible, that way they take your chair apart once. (I usually have at least one transfer point before I get anywhere from the middle of Canada). When you get to finial place check it over carefully and take it for a spin, Check to make sure that you can back up, turn both ways and stop. I travel with my scooter all the time. Enjoy.

Take a light weight manual chair for ports where you have to tender, it is easier for you and the crew. Also if your power chair is damaged for any reason then you have a back up.

Hi I'm traveling for the first time with my skooter, a pride victory and want to know anything i need to look out for! Thanks for your help. My email is: Nancie@Austin.rr.com

nancie

One tip -- make sure your wheelchair batteries are marked with their type. Noah's chair has sealed gel batteries so there is no need to take them off the chair.

Is there a special tag for the batteries? Thanks

54 wheels. 3 different airlines could be a problem because you cant check it through to your final destination without risking that it would not be transferred in a timely basis from one airline to another. We travel with an electric scooter - pride go-go and always arrange our air flights so we stick with one airline. Maybe you cant do that. Did you make your own flight arrangements or did the cruise line do it? If the cruise line did it, I would ask them to redo them and just pay the custom air fee. If you cant remake the flights and hopefully have enough time between flights, I would recommend riding your powerchair to the check-in counter and let them gate check it to the next destination. You would have to tell them ahead of time so they will provide wheelchair assistance to the plane itself. Then at that interim stop, they will either bring your powerchair to the door of the plane or to the baggage claim area - depends much on the weight as to which they do. You would then have to repeat the process for your final leg. The more I think about this, the more I would try to redo your air - if you can't go direct on one airline, try to get it down to two at the most.:)

Since 54 wheels posted this over 2 years ago, I assume he has already taken his trip and found out about traveling by air with a power chair!!!

I've written about this a lot.

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

Candy

Thank you Candy and Splinter Next time I will look at the date of the original posting before coming up with an answer. I guess someone did a search on this and then added their own thread 2 years later.:(