Who Ya Gonna Call When Air Travel Goes Bad?
By Norman, Bill; Quest, Vol. 16, No. 3Publication Date: July-September 2009
Article offers advice to airline travelers in wheelchairs. As an illustration of problems that can be encountered by wheelchair users traveling by air, the story is recounted of a woman with muscular dystrophy traveling from Florida to Pennsylvania with one stopover. The pre-arranged wheelchair and attendant arrived late, the woman was forced to crawl down a flight of steps exiting the plane after the attendant and airplane crew all refused to help her, and she missed her connection and was left unattended for hours while waiting for the next flight. Advice to wheelchair users traveling by air include: (1) before boarding, remind the gate or ticket-counter agent about your needs at other airports; (2) when traveling with respiratory assistive devices, ensure that the equipment carries a label certifying it meets FAA standards for electromagnetic and radio-frequency emissions, as boarding can otherwise be denied; (3) to resolve a problem, insist on speaking to a Complaint Resolution Officer (CRO), which all airlines are required to have available; and (4) file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation/Air Carrier Access Act hotline, 800-778-4838, http://www.airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/ACAAcomplaint.htm.
Published by: Muscular Dystrophy Association (Website:http://www.mdausa.org)
Link to text: http://www.mda.org/publications/Quest/q163airtravel.html#
