Two months in the past, within the span of every week, my wheelchair was twice loaded onto a connecting flight with out being returned to me.
On the primary of these flights, the wheelchair was correctly tagged for gate supply by American Airways, however on the second, gate brokers didn’t examine any of the packing containers on the tag that tells baggage handlers the place to ship the wheelchair.
In each circumstances, I remained in my seat on the inbound plane and required my wheelchair to be offloaded from the connecting flight and returned to me. Throughout layovers, I want my wheelchair to entry the lavatory, and not at all will I give up my independence. Airways are required to return a passenger’s mobility gadget “as shut as attainable to the plane door” upon request, and it’s a proper that I refuse to abrogate.
After I returned from that journey, I spotted that I might now not belief airline tags and wanted to create my very own. Hoping to duplicate my success with the Wheelchair Should Be Loaded Upright tag, I created a high-quality and embroidered “Return Wheelchair to Plane Door” tag which is unimaginable to overlook on account of its shiny yellow coloration.
The tag is now out there within the Wheelchair Journey Store, and you may decide one up for simply $10 plus transport. For those who’d prefer to get the entire set, I’m operating a particular promotion — purchase the Important Notification Tags for Wheelchair Journey set, and also you’ll get each the Loaded Upright and Return to Plane Door tags, plus a WheelchairTravel.org emblem tag for simply $20 plus transport. That’s three tags for the value of two!
With these wheelchair tags, I’ve skilled an enchancment within the dealing with of my wheelchair — it has been loaded upright every time, and returned to me within the jet bridge after each flight. When you’ll nonetheless want to speak your expectations to help employees within the airport, baggage handlers received’t have the ability to say they didn’t know what to do when these shiny tags are hooked up to your wheelchair.
