Need some reassurance!!

[DJBounce]

We will flying in 6 weeks from Moline, IL to MCO via Airtran. This is the first time we have flown with the kids. Our daughter is in a wheelchair (Quickie 2.) It does fold down when the seat is taken out. Our wish coordinator has told me that they will talk to Airtran about how we can board and transfer with the chair. I'm hoping that someone here has done something similar. We can carry her for short distances. I'm really worried about the layover we will have in Atlanta. I hope that they won't make us check the wheelchair. Then we won't have the chair for the layover, let alone when we arrive at MCO. I don't think we could carry her that far. Or if they give us one of their chairs to use, I don't think it would work for our daughter. I just need some reassurance that this will all work out and I don't have to worry about it. I hope I made some sense!!

 

[SueM in MN]

We have traveled many, many times with DD and her wheelchair.
What we do (and what you want to do) is called "Gate Checking" the wheelchair.
You should tell the first person you check in with that you want to gate check the wheelchair. They may give you a special tag and instructions or tell you to talk to the gate agent. You want to do that before boarding starts, so that the tag can be filled out correctly.
When you gate check, you keep the wheelchair until you actually board the plane. You can use it to get down to the door of the plane (and depending on just how things are set up) can usually actually wheel it into the entrance of the plane. After taking your child out, one person in your party can get her seated whil;e the other takes the wheelchair apart and folds it. Remove anything that comes off easily or could pull off during transit (seat cushion, seat back, armrests and footrests if they are swing away ones and could be pulled out if they are pulled on). We sometimes take a large laundry bag to keep the pieces contained; carry the pieces on and put them in the overhead bin or plane closet.
When you gate check the wheelchair, you can request it be brought back to the gate at your destination city or your connecting city or to baggage claim. Make sure the tag is filled out correctly. The last time we flew, we saw someone who gate checked the wheelchair, but they apparently just thought you could do this without discussing it with anyone. Their wheelchair did not have a gate check tag and ended up on the baggage cart going to baggage claim. We could see this out our window and when we went to get DD's wheelchair (which was correctly marked) could hear them complaining to the FA that they had left it at the gate when they got on and expected it to be there when they got off, but didn't know you had to do anything besides leave it there.
Occasionally, there will not be enough time to get it up to the gate at your connecting city and back down again at the gate when you leave. But, that's occassional and the gate agent will be able to help you with that (plus your travel agent or a call to the special needs department of the airline before you go should let you know).
An alternative is to not gate check the wheelchair, but bring it on board with you. Most flights have a closet that a wheelchair could fit in, especially if you can pop off the tires and fold the wheelchair. Some flights don't and if they have one, but someone requested it before you, they don't have to accomidate you. So, ask about this when making your arrangements before you leave.
The flight attendants will not usually be helpful (or not that helpful), especially the FA for First Class, because he/she may have to explain to his/her passengers that the "First Class" closet is not available for their use. Wheelchairs/mobility devices take precidence over luggage. The gate agent usually knows the rules and will be your friend. (Can you tell we have done this particular fight several times?)

 

[philaround]

You should be able to gate check her chair. You will push her all the way to the plane and then either transfer her to a special chair that can fit down the ailse or carry her to her seat. The chair will be folded and placed in the belly of the plane. When you arrive in Atlanta the chair will be removed from teh belly and brought to the door of the plane and you can place your duaghter back in her own chair. You will of course have to do this again when you board in Atlanta and land at MCO. This is pretty much standard procedure for all airlines when it comes to infants and toddlers in strollers and anyone in a chair or ECV. You should also be among the first borded on each of your flights. Just listen carefully to the annoucements starting about 30 minutes before your flight time and proceed to the gate when you hear the annoucement for pre-boarding of families or anyone needing special assistance in boarding.

 

[DJBounce]

Thank you so much for your responses!! I feel a lot better!! Gate checking should work perfectly.

 

[SueM in MN]

For pre-boarding: in our experience with quite a few different airlines, they used to automatically assume you would want to pre-board if you had a wheelchair. The past few years, if you want to preboard, you need to make sure the gate agent knows that you do (the explanation we've gotten over the years has been that some people with disabilities did not want to pre-board and felt they were being pressured into preboarding by the announcement - just reporting what I've been told).
Anywayh, ask the gate agent to preboard and be ready to have someone in your party jump up ifd they start preboarding First Class and groups with chiuldren before you. That happened on our last trip - the gate agent "forgot."
Also, some flights with large numbers of children don't preboard families with children (they would be preboarding 3/4 of the flight sometimes if they did).

 

[DJBounce]

Good advice, Sue. Thank you so very much!!

 

[boosmom96]

I highly recommend you do not fold the chair!!!! We always tell the airline my DD's chair does not fold and even put the auxiliary handle on the strengthen the chair further. Our wheelchair tech suggests this to all his patients. My DD just recently got her 2nd chair (it's a Zippie), but her first was a Quickie that folded.
We had a horrible experience when my DD was about 4 on a flight to Hawaii. At the time she had a Panda stroller. (For those not familiar with this, it is a special needs stroller that has more support than a Convaid, but it does still fold like a regular large stroller.) When the stroller was taken off the plane in Oakland it was obvious that something very heavy had been placed on top of it. The metal bar that was the brake was pushed into the the wheel and the stroller could not be unfolded or rolled!!! Thank goodness we were on the way home and were traveling with my extended family. We had enough people to carry my DD and the broken stroller to baggage. I filed a claim with the airline and finally received a letter 3+ weeks later telling apologizing for the problem and telling me to get it repaired and submit the bill for reimbursement!! Can you imagine going almost 4 weeks without a wheelchair!!! (Or the horrer if this had been on the way to our vacation!!!)
Since this near disaster, I have always told airlines the wheelchair must stay in one piece and have had much better luck.
If you need it for the layover (as I imagine you do) make sure and tell them this when you preboard.
Good luck

 

[SueM in MN]

Whether your wheelchair is better off being folded or not probably depends on how it is configured. We've had some slight damage, like scratching over the years to DD's wheelchair frame. The only time we actually had anything broken (a badly bent anti-tipper) was one of the times we did not fold DD's wheelchair.

If you have a seating sytem that is securely bolted on, it's probably safer to leave it in one piece, unless the seating system has something (like gel, air or lots of protruding pieces) that makes it fragile. The seating system is not going to fall off and keeping it on lends more stability to the whole wheelchair.
In our case, we have been traveling for about 17 years with a wheelchair. DD has always had Quickies. Up until her last wheelchair (received 18 months ago), she always had wheelchairs that folded side to side (like an umbrella stroller). Her newest wheelchair does not have swing away footrests and the only thing you can fold is the canes (the part the seatback is attached to), which fold down, toward the seat. It has swingaway armrests, which look "tempting" to lift the wheelchair by, but would pull out if someone tried to lift the chair with them.

We always take off DD's seat cushion because it a Jay seat that has gel in it. The gel gets really cold in the unheated hold and if it was punctured, there would be gel all over and the seat would be useless. Besides that, the seat is held on only with velcro, so it could easily become unattached and lost.
Most of the time, we do also remove the seatback, armrests and until her newest wheelchair, we also removed the footrests. With all those things off, we've been advised by the wheelchair techs we've worked with, that it is much safer to fold the wheelchair. We fasten the wheelchair seatbelt and tighten it down, which helps keep it folded. That way, the two sides of the frame are held close to each other and can keep better stability. Folded like that, the wheelchair will usually be put at the top of a pile of luggage from what I've been told.

Another thing to think about is the weight. A "fully loaded" wheelchair with footrests, seat cushion, back and armrests might be close to 50 pounds. That's the upper limit for one baggage handler to lift.

 

[DJBounce]

I think we will fold it up. After taking off the seat back (it's a Jay back, too), the seat, and the footrests, the chair folds up pretty compactly. I didn't even think about using the seatbelt to help keep it closed - that's a good tip. Another question - do you feel rushed by the airline staff to hurry - or are they pretty calm about it. I'm afraid if I get frazzeled, I'll forget something when taking the chair apart. Oh - and does the bag I put the seat, seat back and footrests in count as my carryon. I just want to be as prepared as possible. Thanks

 

[dclfun]

I doubt that the bag in which you'd place the wheelchair parts would count as a carryon, but you are allowed more baggage if it's labelled as medical anyway. I figure if I made it cross-country as an adult in a Permobil with a vent and feeding pump attached with no damage ( even though I was hauled in the plane like a side of beef along with my vent) then just about anyone else is also safe! Hope you have a wonderful family trip! Kathy

 

[SueM in MN]

I think we will fold it up. After taking off the seat back (it's a Jay back, too), the seat, and the footrests, the chair folds up pretty compactly. I didn't even think about using the seatbelt to help keep it closed - that's a good tip. Another question - do you feel rushed by the airline staff to hurry - or are they pretty calm about it. I'm afraid if I get frazzeled, I'll forget something when taking the chair apart. Oh - and does the bag I put the seat, seat back and footrests in count as my carryon. I just want to be as prepared as possible. Thanks

no to both questions.
I am the designated "wheelchair wrangler" in our family (mostly because I am the only one who knows how to take it apart and put it back together again). You do that at the end of the jetway in front of the door that leads to the stairway going down to the ground. You can do that pretty much out of the way of anyone coming in. They will go by you and get on the plane. The only problem we've had in the last few years is the sheer number of people gate checking strollers (and, I mean BIG strollers, some of them make a wheelchair look tiny). If a bunch of them comes on while you are still futzing with the wheelchair, it gets a bit crowded. The last few times we flew, when we were ready to get off, the wheelchair was there, but we could not get to the wheelchair because there werre so many strollers (I am also the one who puts it back together, so i am the first of our party off).

The bag with your wheelchair parts doesn't count as a carryon. We've never been even been asked about it because the flight attendents can see me taking the wheelchair apart and putting the pieces into the bag. Between wheelchair parts and DD's communication computer and we used to also travel with a walker, we have tons of special equipment. No one has ever batted an eye at it (aside from someone who joked once that I should get a pakc animal to help me carry it all).

 

[DJBounce]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!