How Wheelchairs Are Stowed As Cargo On Airplanes by WheelchairTravel.org
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- Опубликовано: 21 авг 2024
- A few clips of my power wheelchair being loaded/unloaded from airplane cargo holds at airports around the world. Every airline handles things a bit differently. For more information about traveling in a wheelchair, visit wheelchairtrave...
The airline industry simply has not accommodated wheelchairs, and it needs to. The guys do their best, but they don't have the correct equipment. Arriving at your destination essentially without your legs is no laughing matter. Wheelchairs MUST be treated differently.
Thanks for sharing. It would be nice if FAA allows power wheelchair users can stay in their wheelchair during flight, it'll save the cargo space, eliminate employees labors, prevent workers from back injuries, delay flight time, and prevent power wheelchair damages.
walkingdan Like busses thats what i’ve been thinking too
@@billwalker7556 The Q-Straint tie downs have passed airline safety standards. There is plenty of demand, from the 25 people per day whose wheelchairs are broken by airlines, from every wheelchair user who is afraid their device will be damaged every time they fly, and from the people you don't see because we stopped flying due to these problems or never could access aircraft. The airlines don't want the cost and hassle of removing seats or losing first class seating areas. But the law needs to be changed to require that they do it. People like me who need complex power wheelchairs that are at high risk of breaking in a cargo hold, and/or who can't sit safely/without extreme pain in standard airplane seats are essentially barred from access to flying. We have accessible seating on buses and trains but not aircraft. That is discrimination, pure and simple.
@@billwalker7556 I don’t see why it would take months and so much money lost to reconfigure planes. Airplanes have to go out of service for other reasons all the time. They wouldn’t take them all out of service at once, they would do one at a time or a batch at a time. To learn more about how airplane interiors are configured, I just watched a video about Delta redoing its 777 interiors... and then after spending all that money, they retired the fleet! They spent a fortune on figuring out how to create cubicles with reclining seats and doors and all kinds of other stuff, there is no reason they could not do the same for wheelchair spaces. I realize that currently there isn’t any regulatory guidance in place for them to do so, but if that happened, it would not be prohibitively expensive compared to other cabin design elements airlines spend money on already.
Also, they don’t need to make every airplane accessible to start with because you’re right, it’s not needed for every flight. They could start with large planes on major routes, such as LA to New York and longer flights in and out of Florida and other popular tourist destinations. Then booking websites would list which planes have in-wheelchair seating and people can purchase tickets accordingly. They could also require that wheelchair seats be purchased at least 24 hours before the flight, so if they are not sold, they can simply bolt seats in the space and sell them to non-disabled people. According to the stats I just looked up, over 685,000 wheelchair/scooter users fly each year, and while not all of them may want to sit in their mobility devices, some certainly would. And there are hundreds of thousands of wheelchair users who are not counted in those statistics because we don't currently fly due to it being unsafe for our mobility devices or for us to sit in airplane seats. There is substantial unmet demand here.
With that said, just as the ADA applies to new building construction and remodeling but older buildings that aren’t remodeled have fewer requirements, the more important factor is requiring accessibility on new airplanes. If they are designing a plane to be accessible from the beginning then the cost will obviously be much less and there won't be any downtime. If they passed a requirement today that all new commercial aircraft manufactured after a certain date had to be accessible, eventually all existing planes will be retired and the new fleet would be accessible. That’s what happened with buses and trains. And ultimately I think that’s the only way to fully solve the problem.
@@freewheelintravel Airlines needs to learn to distinguish the different between scooters and complex rehab wheelchairs. Instead of all wheelchair users, just those who required complex rehab wheelchair should be able to remain in their seat for safety reason. We literally lives in our wheelchair, without it, many would be bedridden.
@@walkingdan Absolutely. I feel like a low rate citizen because I cannot fly because of how I was born. Come on ADA.
I notice the foreign countries seem to handle the wc better(either w/training or equipment). The US seems to not provide the equipment for the workers. This is ridiculous.
My wife's power wheelchair gets damaged on planes more often than not. It gives me a panic attack each time to watch how they load and unload it. One time it was damaged because it was loaded and unloaded on its side. The chair was not meant to carry the weight in that configuration and it cracked the battery shroud. Even when I provide highly visible directions and label all switches they simply ignore them. It makes me want to shout through the window what to do or not do to it. My wife now travels with her old power chair to avoid damaging her very expensive new one. One time I needed the help of an airplane mechanic to help me on the jetway repair the damage. We would've been stranded if we weren't able to fix it.
James D'Andrea i sympathise 100%
I'm curious, is the weight of the wheelchair itself labeled (visibly), as well?
I had a connecting flight, when I arrived at my destination, they forgot to transfer it. I got it back the next day.
I was just denied flying by Alaska Airlines because my chair is over their 33 inch maximum height. It is a specialty seating power chair and does not fold down.
sorry to hear that. Just thinking out loud. They can recline the power chair down to 33 inches in height; however I wouldn't trust them, because they'll try to drive in a reline position and crush it. In other case, they might try to remove the backrest of the power chair and completely messed up, because they don't have trained wheelchair technician to do it. Person A from the departure cargo area dismount the chair and Person B at the designation cargo area will try to put it together without any instructions.
I just got back from vacation and they scratched my brand new chair up. It just pisses me off the way they throw stuff around.
Does anyone know if there is a video somewhere of how they secure it into the cargo hold?
I seen just ONCE they have a machine that will lift the chair (this is in the USA) I only seen it once and its the ONLY time my chair didnt have no damage. The ramp workers need to treat chairs like its for them!
What if your seatback can't be removed to make the chair shorter? Have control boxes and other stuff mounted on the back of my chair. I'm planning a flight right now in a much smaller aircraft trying it to convince the airlines to let my chair stay on its side. I have flown multiple times in larger aircraft and only a few issues here and there. My chair weighs 300 pounds by itself
1:28 I really didn't think he had a ramp at the end haha. Why do all airports have ramps, it's the 21st century
Cameron Nicholson What?
The ramp is too short. That guy could have been injuried.
If every passenger was wheel chair bound then they find a way !!
THIS
Only regulation can change.
Rant: Yall need some SERIOUS training on handling the disabled "independence." Their wheelchairs allow them their independence and yall have NO training on proper handling. You DO NOT pick up these heavy electric chairs by the joystick, arm rests NOR feet plates. They break! EASILY! And take forever to get fixed. To pick these chairs up, there are 4 loop hooks at each corner on bottom of chair. 2 in the front and 2 in the back. USE THOSE TO LIFT CHAIR OR GRAB FROM UNDER CHAIR BASE. STOP GRABBING THE MOST FRAGILE PIECES TO LIFT A 200 TO 400 POUND CHAIR THAT THE DISABLED DEPEND ON FOR INDEPENDENCE GET TRAINED & ACTUALLY GIVE A DAMN!
@@billwalker7556 thank you for your response. We fly about 3times a year and each time except this last time, flight employees don't know how to handle his chair. They try to drive it ( which they run into things because they don't know how ) instead of keeping motors disengaged ( to make it easily pushable and not damaging motors ) and pushing it. And they broke his feet plates 2x. Do u know how long it takes to get someone to come out to fix those? Like 2weeks at minimum. So I have to rig it with rope and stuffings just so he can continue his independence without further injury because his feet drags. Airlines paid for the last fix and they weren't happy about it yet apologetic. Still cost him 2weeks of work. Now when we fly, we meet up with the manager and another qualified person before each flight to give them firm instruction and warning so it doesn't happen again. All in all, everyone doesn't care cuz it's not them..smh.. imagine going on vacation and your independence is broken so you're bedridden the whole time cuz insurance takes forever and airline employees don't give a damn
@@billwalker7556 I hope all airlines has someone like u. Or you travel to train them properly lol. Thank you for caring and your professionalism to make sure the handicapped enjoy their flights also. Really means a lot
@@jw6612 before u transfer, try making sure the speed is turned down all the way. I do this for the staff at one my docs offices so they can take it out of the exam room safely.
I cannot afford a powered wheelchair for my husband, I set up a Go Fund me website. no one has helped to go fund my husband.
Disgrace