Bell services and medical devices

[themagicgotme]

Hi all!
My family is doing a split stay in February, 2 nights at Wilderness lodge and 2 nights at the Grand Floridian.
My husband uses a Trilogy device (non-invasive ventilator), which is significantly more expensive and heavy than a standard CPAP.
Normally he never lets anyone transport it other than him on trips (although we are comfortable with leaving at it Bell Services for the day/afternoon) so we are debating whether to use bell services to transfer our luggage during the split stay, or to take an Uber with just that device over to the next resort ourselves before starting our day.

I'm fine with the latter as Epcot has extended evening hours that day, so we're not trying for an early start anyway. Rather a more leisurely start and late night. But my husband doesn't want to cut into vacation the rest of the family's vacation time too much.

Has anyone had experience with Bell services and medical devices and the care, or not, that they take?

Thanks so much!

 

[jo-jo]

I would do the uber plan, just for peace of mind.

My DH takes about 10 meds a day. Most morning and night, a few during the day. My thought was just take the few pills you need now, not what you need 5 hours from now. Well, he carried that day's whole dose of pills with him. Turns out our luggage was lost for a few extra hours. Didn't get it until nine at night. Could have been longer but we called for our luggage and we got"luggage? what luggage?". Then the hunt began. All was well, when we got, but it never made the trip over to the new resort.

 

[RoseGold]

Just take the Uber. The luggage is usually fine, but there are enough delays and issues and wrong deliveries that I would just Uber.

 

[themagicgotme]

I would do the uber plan, just for piece of mind.

My DH takes about 10 meds a day. Most morning and night, a few during the day. My thought was just take the few pills you need now, not what you need 5 hours from now. Well, he carried that day's whole dose of pills with him. Turns out our luggage was lost for a few extra hours. Didn't get it until nine at night. Could have been longer but we called for our luggage and we got"luggage? what luggage?". Then the hunt began. All was well, when we got, but it never made the trip over to the new resort.

Glad you brought the meds! We usually carry all meds as well, unfortunately this thing weighs about 50 pounds, so obviously a no go. It's also a huge challenge in airports, but that's another story.

 

[Mle8308]

I would not have bell services move it, too much could go wrong. I would bring it to bell services at the GF myself and talk to the bell captain or dispatcher to let them know what the equipment is and that it needs to be handled with care. You could take a ride share or even the boat over to the MK and switch to the monorail to the GF (or boat), if you don't want to use Uber or Lyft. That is depending on the size of the equipment, not sure if you can carry it. If so, do that and have the WL transfer your luggage.

 

[SueM in MN]

I agree with the other posters. It would be safest to transport it yourself

 

[Groot]

Just take an Uber with that device. I wouldn’t trust anyone with an important piece of equipment and would be more at peace of mind if I had it with me when switching hotels. Does he have a carry bag for it?

 

[MinnieMSue]

I know how much a trilogy is and definitely would take it yourself. I would be scared having them take my cpap. I would worry about him not having it to sleep if something happened as much as the expense honestly.

 

[Starwind]

I would take the uber. When you get to the next resort, speak with Bell Services and and make sure they understand it is medical equipment and needs to be put into secure storage.

SW

 

[Groot]

I know how much a trilogy is and definitely would take it yourself. I would be scared having them take my cpap. I would worry about him not having it to sleep if something happened as much as the expense honestly.

Yeah, anything that is medically necessary I would keep with me at all times. I get nervous when I have to fly with my wheelchair and have to pack it up and gate check it.

 

[themagicgotme]

Haha yeah, the trilogy is expensive! And necessary! My husband still has his old bipap, which was MUCH lighter and easier to travel with, but he does so much better on this- and it's not like you need anything to increase the exhaustion at Disney! We don't have a wonderful bag for it, still searching. The biggest issue is that TSA needs it taken out of the bag each time, and that's heavy and difficult for my husband to do. And of course I'm not allowed to assist and neither are they. Also, we have a bag that goes on a suitcase, but if we check the suitcase, to make boarding easier with his disability, then we're stuck carrying it. And we're reticent to use a wheeled bag as they are more likely to give you a hard time taking those as carry on sometimes. My husband will definitely not be separated from it on planes and would rather completely restrict his legroom than risk the overhead. If anyone has any bag tips that would be amazing! Groot I feel you on the wheelchair. People with my husband's condition eventually need scooters and there are so many horror stories of them getting just ruined.

 

[Lewisc]

And of course I'm not allowed to assist and neither are they. Also, we have a bag that goes on a suitcase, but if we check the suitcase, to make boarding easier with his disability, then we're stuck carrying it. And we're reticent to use a wheeled bag as they are more likely to give you a hard time taking those as carry on sometimes.

Why aren’t you allowed to assist?
People use wheeled bags as bin bags all the time. The airline shouldn't give you.a problem if the bag meets the airline size limits, usually including wheels and handles.

What airline?

 

[themagicgotme]

Why aren’t you allowed to assist?
People use wheeled bags as bin bags all the time. The airline shouldn't give you.a problem if the bag meets the airline size limits, usually including wheels and handles.

What airline?

You're not allowed to assist with a TSA inspection. If a bag is pulled to the side to be inspected as a security measure, it just needs to be the owner of the bag and the TSA staff member. US TSA needs to inspect these devices, all other countries are fine with just the Xray in our experience so far. Of course I could just pretend it's mine when they ask whose bag it is, now that I think about it. But my husband has a - if someone is going to break it, it's better that it's me-policy so I doubt he'd let me. As for bin bags, of course you can bring roller bags as carry on, I always do when traveling for work, but many airlines- Delta in particular- will pull all roller bags into gate check as a blanket policy about halfway through the boarding process, even if there's still overhead room. Honestly, between early boarding and status that's not usually a problem for us any more. But the fact remains that the only way to truly guarantee that they won't gatecheck a bag is if it can 100% fit under the seat in front of you instead of overhead.

 

[RoseGold]

And of course I'm not allowed to assist and neither are they.

What? There's no rule that the disabled person has to carry their own equipment, that doesn't even make sense. You could carry it for him and help him. People do it all the time. Just send it through without the bag, as you already know it will be an issue. Get a big clear bag for it and put that in the other bag, if you're worried about it.

 

[themagicgotme]

I realize my first post wasn't super clear/detailed, because I was under the impression this was a safe space with people who had experienced something similar and thought I may be able to get some advice- especially since one poster suggested they might have some tips over what bag to use. In case anyone feels like further inspecting every detail of my post: Electronic devices are removed from their bags and placed on their own, in the bin, prior to TSA screening. This is just like it is with someone's computer, only this is an extremely heavy, bulky, expensive and fragile device. Of course I am able to assist at that stage. Devices are not in any bag at this point and if they were in a clear bag they would need to be removed from that as well. However, in the US, our experience with over 10 flights, with no exception, is that this device is then taken to the side for secondary inspection. At that point, only the owner of that bin is allowed to carry it to the side and allowed to remove it from the area. And trust me, I've been yelled at plenty by TSA attempting to assist. Please ignore my comment about our experience if it bothers you so much. We will be addressing this issue with the TSA in a new way on our next trip and hopefully things will go better than our last experience. And we've actually already purchased a new bag, so my intention by discussing this in the first place is moot. I'd delete my post if I didn't feel like that lacked transparency at this point. (If anyone traveling with a ventilator or otherwise unwieldy medical device is interested in updates on our experience, feel free to reach out through direct message. Perhaps we can help each other after all.)

 

[Lewisc]

Not for the OP, Even Frontier makes a specific medical exception for CPAP. They can be checked or carried on the plane. No charge. DON'T put anything else in the bag.

I assume OPs machine would be treated as CPAP.

 

[RoseGold]

At that point, only the owner of that bin is allowed to carry it to the side and allowed to remove it from the area.

I mean yes and no. For TSA, the "owner" as in who is claiming the bin, not the person who needs to use the device. You can put it in your bin, and you go through the screening, even if it isn't "your" ventilator. I've hauled around and taken responsibility for a lot of not-mine medical devices.

Lots of disabled people aren't physically capable of doing the secondary screening. This is a common thing.

Medical equipment has different standards for luggage. This might be easier than what you are currently doing.

 

[themagicgotme]

Not for the OP, Even Frontier makes a specific medical exception for CPAP. They can be checked or carried on the plane. No charge. DON'T put anything else in the bag.

I assume OPs machine would be treated as CPAP.

In theory yes, but our previous BiPAP (one step up from CPAP) was so much smaller and lighter and just didn't raise nearly as many eyebrows in practice- and was so light in comparison! Traveling with that thing used to be a breeze- plus it's easy to find an official carry bag for those as they are much more common and people who use them are much more likely to travel. We regularly used that one as an additional carry on and had 0 issues, as you say.

 

[lanejudy]

I was under the impression this was a safe space with people who had experienced something similar and thought I may be able to get some advice

OP - I'm sorry you feel judged. I believe folks intend to be helpful, but sometimes get caught up in making assumptions. I'm not familiar with the device you have and possibly others are not either. We all tend to try to make assumptions and correlations based on what we do know -- which maybe is meds, a smaller device that doesn't require additional screening, a lighter device that can be managed by 1 person, etc. My only suggestion with regards to TSA is to make sure the device is declared as "medical" and have nothing else in that bag. As to Bell Services - I agree with others who recommend transporting it yourselves.

I certainly appreciate your posting to share your experience. I have learned something new that could help me in the future. Hopefully others will find it helpful as well.

 

[themagicgotme]

I mean yes and no. For TSA, the "owner" as in who is claiming the bin, not the person who needs to use the device. You can put it in your bin, and you go through the screening, even if it isn't "your" ventilator. I've hauled around and taken responsibility for a lot of not-mine medical devices.

Lots of disabled people aren't physically capable of doing the secondary screening. This is a common thing.

Medical equipment has different standards for luggage. This might be easier than what you are currently doing.

Thank you. I should try this. (My husband may fight me on it, but that's his issue, LOL. It's hard to get him to accept my help sometimes.)