Boarding Planes

BOARDING
Airport assistance will also make sure that, either you get a wheelchair and be wheeled around or guided throughout the airport, or they will take you up to the gate and to the door of the airplane, where you can transfer onto an aisle chair or sky chair and be lifted up onto the plane and taken to your seat.

Arrange for an aisle chair or sky chair so you can board the plane AND to remain on the plane during the flight. It happened on an EVA Airway flight where neither happened and the flight was long and well, way too long.

WHEELCHAIR PARTS
Airports, airlines and cargo handlers don’t care about your wheelchair as much as you do. Think about your wheelchair and its parts. Are the armrests loose? Footrests loose? What about batteries and/or other eletrical devices on motorized wheelchairs or scooters? Are they something you worry about?

Your wheelchair may have several parts: armrests, foot rests, a motorized wheelchair has a battery pack, etc. Airline cargo handlers are not the most delicate. Why should they? They lug and throw heavy luggage all day. A wheelchair is probably minimally more sacred to them. I’ve had a couple of spokes broken and some dings on my wheelchairs throughout the years due to cargo handler carelessness.

So, you may want to disassemble some parts of your wheelchair before you leave your wheelchair into the hands of the unknown. Take those parts with you on the plane.

YOUR OWN WHEELCHAIR
If you have a manual chair, I would suggest you take your wheelchair up to the door of the plane. Once there, you can transfer out of your chair and onto an aisle chair. This might sound a bit controlling but, like baby carriages, you have a little more guarantee that your wheelchair gets taken down to the luggage compartment, gets handled a bit better than a automated luggage carriage belts, which drop off your chair at the bottom of the belt line. Make sure you get your wheelchair brought up to the door of the plane at your destination. Let the airlines via phone and the customer service representative at the ticket counter know this ahead of time. Call the airlines and again, confirm at the ticket counter.

In addition, make sure you communicate to the flight attendants that your wheelchair – and not the airport’s wheelchair – should be brought up to the door of the plane when you arrive at your destination. And, a few minutes before the plane lands, remind the flight attendants that you will need an aisle chair to be brought to you. On several occasions on Asian airlines, the flight attendants had forgotten to facilitate an aisle chair, leaving me to wait for inordinate amounts of time.

BUNGEE CHORDS
One tip that might be useful is bringing a bungee chord with you. If you have a manual, fold up wheelchair, you can use the bunjee chord at the airport to fasten your wheelchair, after you fold it up, together when you fold it up and let the airport assistance or baggage handlers carry it. This way, it won’t open up.

Another use of a bungee chord when you’re traveling is to fasten, sometimes, a small trunk door of a taxi or cab. Cab trunks don’t always fit with luggage and a wheelchair. The wheelchair can go in the backseat as well. But, you may choose to just have it in the trunk and to secure the trunk door down if it won’t close all the way.

Click here for to see the Bungee Chord in Action

LIQUIDS AND EATING
Eating and drinking before and during a flight is an important subject when it comes to long flights. I personally don’t drink coffee or anything that acts as a catalyst before a flight or during a long flight. There’s a benefit and detriment to not drinking a lot of liquids during flight time. The benefit is, of course, you won’t have to use the restroom much. The detriment is, you’ll get a little dried out or dehydrated.

When I drink liquids on a long flight, I drink them slowly. The faster in, the faster out. The slower in, the slower out. You get the same idea with food. Avoid eating large amounts or greasy meals and eating fast. Also, avoid spicy food before and during a flight. May sound strange, but you can save some trips to the restrooms and avoid having to transfer onto an aisle chair numerous times during a flight.

Transferring onto aisle chairs can be a big process and on airlines, especially Asian airlines, the staff of which, are less relaxed about handicap travelers. Sometimes the flight attendants make a larger deal than necessary about helping out during flights when it comes to transferring disabled travelers onto aisle chairs. In addition, when handicap people in wheelchairs have to use the restroom, they have to access a restroom rather quickly.

Again, bring Immodium AD with you on trips!

SEATING AND RESTROOMS
Get a seat in the back of the plane, especially during long flights. The advantage of having a seat in the back of the plane, if you’re in a wheelchair, are many. The flight attendants are back there for one. You have more privacy. The restroom in the back is closer to you and easier to access on a plane. You won’t have to deal with a bunch of staring eyes. Finally, most likely, you’ll get to stretch out since most people prefer to be as close to the front of the plane as possible so they can disembark faster. In any case, people in wheelchairs are always the last ones to disembark an airplane. You must wait until everyone else disembarks, then, wait for an aisle chair to be brought if you can not walk on your own power. The reason why handicap people who can’t walk have to be the last ones to disembark an airplane of course, is because the aisle chair that the airport staff brings onto the plane takes up the aisle and will block everyone trying to get off the plane!