I journey with a heavy, 400-lb. energy wheelchair and, whereas I’ve documented very many circumstances of it being mishandled by American Airways, I’ve by no means seen it tossed round like a youngsters’s play toy — it’s just too heavy for that.
Not like my energy chair, handbook wheelchairs (significantly the ultra-light titanium selection) could be tossed round like play issues — and a brand new video shared on TikTok exhibits simply that, as American Airways brokers tossed a wheelchair down a baggage chute, resulting in a violent crash.
Because the wheelchair crashed into the tip of the chute, it went airborne, coming simply in need of a 720-degree flip, the type that might make a pro-skateboarder’s profession.
TikTok person @haez93, who revealed the video, wrote that, “after I noticed them do that and snigger with the primary two wheelchairs I needed to get it on movie.” She continued, “That’s not what I’d name ‘dealing with with care’ for somebody’s mobility gadget…”
After seeing the video, which has been appreciated by greater than 58,000 TikTok customers, I reached out to American Airways with a request for remark. Their media relations crew shared the next assertion: “We acknowledge how essential it’s to help the independence of consumers with disabilities by guaranteeing the right care of mobility gadgets all through their journey with us. This visible is deeply regarding and we’re gathering extra particulars in order that we will tackle them with our crew. We’ll proceed to work exhausting to enhance our dealing with of assistive gadgets throughout our community.”
Whereas the TikTok video covers the dealing with of only one wheelchair, @haez93 shared that she had seen two others mistreated in the identical method. If true, it might counsel that baggage handlers weren’t simply negligent of their dealing with of mobility gear, however acted with willful intent to hurt the mobility gadgets. Their employment with the airline ought to be terminated, and a full evaluation of the airline’s coaching across the dealing with of mobility gear ought to be carried out by a third-party.
The incapacity group has lengthy acknowledged that “wheelchairs usually are not baggage” and shouldn’t be handled as such — however on this video, airline staff handled the wheelchair worse than baggage, extra like my canine delighting within the destruction of a luxurious toy. They actually weren’t “caring for you on life’s journey,” because the American Airways advertising and marketing slogan goes.
