Four Tips On Flying With A Wheelchair
As anybody who has ever set foot in an airport knows, traveling to a destination by airplane while in a wheelchair is not especially easy. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to make the journey of flying with a wheelchair a little bit easier on yourself- and most of them simply involve being proactive and paying close attention.
Here are four travel hacks from your friends at Custom Care Carriage to make that handicapable journey a little less stressful.
Scout Out The Airports Ahead Of Time
Most airports have interactive maps available these days so you can see where all the important things are. But in order to really get a good sense of the terrain, you might want to hop onto YouTube and type “airport walkthrough” into the search bar. For example, here’s a
comprehensive walkthrough of Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. These are usually done by travel bloggers, so you’ll get to see the airport through the eyes of somebody who physically walked through the same airport you’ll be walking to. This gives you an excellent opportunity to look for elevators, wheelchair-accessible restrooms, special seating, and more.
Call The Airline In Advance And Inform Them Of Your Wheelchair Status
By law, every airline is required to provide special assistance for handicapable individuals. However, if the airline is not aware of your disability until you show up at the gate, you’ll be much less likely to get the assistance you need (and deserve). Simply call your airline ahead of time and inform them of any special assistance you may need, including a golf cart to take you to your gate if necessary.
Give Yourself More Time Than You Think You Need
No matter how well you scout out the airports in advance, you just never know when an elevator in the airport will choose the day you’re traveling to not work and you’ll have to find an alternative route. Along that same vein, be sure not to make any plans for immediately after you land, as it can be quite a hassle retrieving your wheelchair from the plane’s cargo section. Similarly, if you have no choice but to endure a layover, be sure to space out the time in between flights and give yourself a long enough layover so that if there’s a holdup with the wheelchair, you can still make your connecting flight.
Mark Your Wheelchair With Your Name For The Journey
You just never know when a wheelchair could simply be handed off to somebody it doesn’t belong to by an airport worker who has no way of knowing any better. You can’t completely eliminate this possibility, but you can decrease the likelihood of it by clearly labeling it with a tag that has your first and last name on it. And it can’t hurt to include your email or phone number on it, too, in the event that someone else does wind up with it.
Are you in need of wheelchair assistance this new year? Reach out to the
Custom Care Carriage team, and we’ll get you situated!
