Back from my first flight with powerchair

[4GBLC]

We landed in Orlando on 4-6-06 at 2:30 p.m. The first thing that was said to me was...."Mr. X, your wheelchair is damaged". My heart sunk! They wheeled me to Southwest Airlines baggage claim where I go to see my baby. The whole back end had wires hanging from it. I really didn't know it had that many wires in it. LOL

So I sat from 2:30 until 6:00 while a repairman was "on his way". One look at it and Florida Mobility told me they couldn't fix it that day. He brought me a powerchair to use until he got it fixed the next day.

Now lets talk about the next day. Basically I spent my entire trip with the loaner chair. I didn't get my chair back until 1 hour before we left SSR to return to Orlando Intl. Airport.

SWA, did compensate me. I received $400 in vouchers, and they refunded my familys round trip airfare.

Would I do it again? HECK YEAH!!!!!!!!! In fact I'm doing it again in June. I guess I expected the worse so it wasn't to bad. I just figure if they break it again, they will fix it again. All in all SWA treated me very well. I feel they went out of their way. I will continue to fly with them.

 

[SueM in MN]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!!
Not good. Not good at all.

We are thinking of taking DD's power wheelchair with us next year (I will be brave because she should be getting a new one this summer and we will be able to take her old one). If they break hers though, we would be out of luck because she would not probably be able to use a loaner wheelchair very easily. Her wheelchair is very narrow for how long the seat is.

I'm glad to hear they did get it fixed for you though.

 

[mamajoan]

So sorry to hear that your powerchair was damaged.

I just don't get it how powerchairs can get so wrecked while in the cargo area....???

Someone somewhere in the airline big wig line has to at LEAST KNOW someone who relies on a powerchair ... so they might understand the IMPORTANCE of a person's chair to their ADL'S.


as for SWA and the free flights! WAY COOL!!! Back to WDW for you!!

 

[Biscuitsmom31]

You got lucky!

SWA broke DH's powerchair too. They paid for the repairs but nothing else.

 

[dclfun]

Sue- I'm with you. I couldn't use a loaner chair either so I guess I'd have to be transported to the hospital for my "vacation". Fortunately Delta was very careful with my chair when we flew from LAX to MCO. It arrived without a scratch. I just got a new chair too to the tune of 36K plus the attachments- I think I might hesitate to bring a brand new chair. I might bring my old one though like you're doing for your daughter- that way at least there would be a backup at home and the new chair wouldn't be damaged. One thing about delicate power chairs- once damaged they are never the same. ---Kathy

 

[Nanajo1]

Oh no! I was just getting up the courage to bring my power chair. Now I think I'll wait until I'm due to get a new chair. Like others have posted I need a back up.

 

[pugdog]

One thing to do too is precheck it before you go. Spend a day with your wc tech and move anything that might be damaged it a flight. Hide the wire under something. Make your control box easier to remove, things like that.

 

[dclfun]

Depending on the chair, it may not be possible to remove things. I have a Permobil Corpus 500 and the gel batteries are under the "shroud". My vent is attached as is a feeding pump...by bolts. They were able to load my chair without removing anything but then I had to worry about all of it. One thing to ask is to be sure it is loaded last, then it won't have as much chance of being damaged in the midst of unsettled luggage, etc. ---Kathy

 

[pugdog]

Sorry thought that bolted down things were a given about not being taken off.

But some things could be moved so they don't stick out so much. One thing that we have done is taken out one of the bolts on DW's chair''s back so we can semi fold the back down. We also carry a allen wrench with to take the controller off the side and strap it in the seat pan.

Sometimes just the little things can help decrease the chances of damage. Any little thing you can do at home will make things easier and make the trip more enjoyable.

 

[dclfun]

I know some people have posted that they were required to have the batteries removed and "parts" taken off their chair. Nothing can come off mine and it was still fine. I watched it going up the ramp and being loaded last and watched it being the first thing brought off the plane when we landed. I guess I was just lucky because I'd been worried for months that my chair would be broken. ---Kathy

 

[GroovyWheeler]

Glad to hear that you had fun. I'm thinking of taking a folding power chair that I'll be renting from my DME dealer next time my mom, Dan, and I go to Disney World. Traveling with my own power chair, would be too hard and difficult, even though it could be done. But, my mom doesn't want to take the risk of anything bad happening to it, since it's covered under her healthcare insurance policy. We were told by my seating specialist that we were risking a lot of damage to it, if we were to ever travel with it on an airplane.

For us, taking a rental folding power chair would be a lot easier, than traveling with my own power chair. Plus, it'll be a lot of fun for me, to drive it around all of the theme parks that we go to, rather than depending on someone to push me, like I have had to, for the last 4 years or so, that we've taken my manual wheelchair.

Samantha

 

[videogal1]

I know some people have posted that they were required to have the batteries removed and "parts" taken off their chair. Nothing can come off mine and it was still fine. I watched it going up the ramp and being loaded last and watched it being the first thing brought off the plane when we landed. I guess I was just lucky because I'd been worried for months that my chair would be broken. ---Kathy

American Airlines has the worst record of dealing with my scooter..They insisted on taking it apart every time I flew them (3 times one year) and I once even had the thing delivered to me in 5 peices at 11PM in the deserted baggage claim area...No wonder they had left me sitting in one of their manual chairs for 2 hours! Just returned from a 1-week trip using SWA. They do a pretty good job...S..t happens, though, and all it takes is for a 40# checked bag to wriggle loose in the hold for some damage to get done to precious "power legs".

 

[justplaingoofy]

For those that could use a "loaner"... I had heard there was a medical company in the DIsney area that you can rent a power chair from. They deliver it to the resort... Just wonder if it would help someone to use a transport or regular wheelchair for the plane/airport and then keep that stored either in the room or have your Disney resort store it while you use the rented power chair???

 

[SueM in MN]

For those that could use a "loaner"... I had heard there was a medical company in the DIsney area that you can rent a power chair from. They deliver it to the resort... Just wonder if it would help someone to use a transport or regular wheelchair for the plane/airport and then keep that stored either in the room or have your Disney resort store it while you use the rented power chair???

You can rent power wheelchairs from both Care and Walker (contact information is listed in the disABILITIES FAQs thread). They are both full service medical equipment companies and should have something to meet most people's needs. Both will deliver equipment to your resort.

I have contacted both of them in the past regarding looking into renting a power wheelchair for my DD. Because of her size (5 feet tall 90 pounds), she needs an unusual size of wheelchair and she needs special seating that was not available on the rental chairs, so it would not work out for us.
That would be an option for someone with less special needs than my DD (NOTE: when we contacted them, they would rent scooters to anyone, but would only rent power wheelchairs to people with experience - like people who wanted to leave theirs at home).

Scootaround also rents powerchairs, but the type they have (at least on their website) may not be suitable for some people.

 

[mamajoan]

Sue, Thanks for the Scootaround link! Way cool! they offer ''scooter tours" in several cities.... that is so awesome!

 

[SueM in MN]

Sue, Thanks for the Scootaround link! Way cool! they offer ''scooter tours" in several cities.... that is so awesome!

We haven't had a lot of "testimonials" from people who have used Scootaround, but I have seen their scooters in the parks and they looked nice.
I saw an article about the company in a disability magazine (can't remember where I saw it though). From what I remember, the company was started because someone was traveling and was not able to find a scooter to rent. They thought that was a shame and decided to start a company to make sure it didn't happen to anyone else.