Flew Down With The Powerchair & the results are...

[chris1gill]

EXCELLENT!!!

Southwest Air is now definitely my preferred airline, I really liked them before, now I LOVE them!!

Check-in was absolutely no problem, no waiting, no filling anything out, no dawdling... She took our luggage & we were OFF... Got through Security no problem, got the gate, again, NO PROBLEM... 20 minutes before the flight I transferred to one of their manual chairs & they took mine & free wheeled it to the elevator down to the ground... DH did take the electronics off this time though... I watched them load & unload the chair... three guys lifted the chair onto the conveyor belt & one guy went up the conveyor belt with it... coming down was the same way, guy came down with it & three guys lifted it down... Best news, NO DAMAGE at all & the staff is EXCELLENT!! You bet we'll fly with them from now on...

Too bad I already booked November on Delta... oh well, live & learn....

So I thought I'd update you guys that are nervous to fly with your chairs!

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for the report. Glad to hear the plane trip was trouble free.
We are probably going to be brave and travel with DD's power wheelchair next time we go to Florida, so I want all the info I can get about power wheelchair travel (especially the successful reports).

 

[chris1gill]

Hi Sue,

Can you take DD's electronics off prior to the flight? If you can, I'd REALLY recommend it... If you can fly Southwest, I'd do that too, they're really excellent... Try to avoid American if you can... But, I think you're two steps ahead if you can take those electronics off...

 

[SueM in MN]

Yep. We are planning to take hers off. In fact, the wheelchair tech suggested that. Did you box up your electronics and carry them on or what did you do?
Our only real choise for flying is NorthWest, since they are the only ones with non-stop flights out of Minneapolis. We've never had problems with them, so I anticipate that things will work out.

 

[ToriLammy]

Originally posted by chris1gill
Hi Sue,

Can you take DD's electronics off prior to the flight? If you can, I'd REALLY recommend it... If you can fly Southwest, I'd do that too, they're really excellent... Try to avoid American if you can... But, I think you're two steps ahead if you can take those electronics off...

Taking off the electronics is an excellent idea! The first time we flew with our daughter's wheelchair the thought of doing that never occurred to us. We watched from the window as the airline employees took turns riding in my daughter's chair as they were transferring it from one plane to another, we were furious. Fortunately nothing happened to the chair but if we ever fly with it again the controller is going in the carryon luggage

 

[chris1gill]

The only reason we thought to take the electronics off, was that they got damaged & had to be replaced the only other time we flew with the chair last February... I then posted on the Pride Mobility message board & they said to go ahead & take the electronics off....

My DH wanted to make some little fancy box for the thing but we did no such thing LOL... we have a rolling luggage case that fits PERFECTLY in the overhead bin, I left plenty of room in it & we put the electronics in the suitcase & very carefully placed it in the overhead bin (and of course watched for anyone who even REMOTELY thought of opening that bin!! There was a little padding in the suitcase of course with t shirts & stuff...

If I had seen anyone playing around with my chair I would have had DH choke them no such thing happened on Southwest & they were VERY PROFESSIONAL unlike American... American employees ONLY dropped my chair & then let me figure it out by the damage!! Good thing American fixed it & gave us enough in vouchers to cover at least half our flight cost to go back to Hawaii, good thing! I still would NOT use American given any choice at all.

 

[mamajoan]

Chris, I am so glad to hear that you and your chair had a good flight with Southwest.

 

[Nanajo1]

That's great news. So I should take off my joy stick but what about the leg rests and Jay cushion? Do the batteries have to be packaged separately? I have visions of my leg rests and cushion coming loose. I suppose I could put them in a carry on as well. Did you have to deal with this? Thanks for being the trailblazer.

 

[chris1gill]

Hi Nanajo,

Do your leg rests come off? My manual wheelchairs legs come off & I ALWAYS take them off... my powerchairs foot rest does not come off, so I'm set with that... & yes, you should definitely take the cushion off as well... You get the triple wammy I guess!! & Yup, unplugged the joystick controller box from the back of the chair & carried it aboard... it was easy to come off the Jazzy, just required a Hex Wrench I think they call it, tiny little thing with a funny little head on it Took literally about 1 minute to take it out & I'm so glad we did!!!

If you have the dry cell batteries (I think you do), you don't need to do anything with them... the electronics are off & there's no chance the chairs going anywhere, so no we didn't disconnect the batteries (they are hard to get to on my Jazzy, but easy on the newer ones)....

I don't mind being the trailblazer on this one, so ask away & remember, they break it, they bought it!!

 

[SueM in MN]

I saw we are getting some really good hints here on airplane travel with a wheelchair, but I'm afraid people won't find the hints here, so I started a new thread just for this sort of hint:
Wheelchair travel hints

 

[chris1gill]

That's a great idea Sue!! But, in the spirit of fairness it might be a good idea to also post our flying experience from February (disaster that it was), so that if somebody does get into trouble flying, they maybe have an idea of how to go about getting the situation rectified... Because as much as we might try to get our chairs safely to their destination, it might not happen that way!!

So, it's a good idea to remember, if the airline breaks your chair, they are RESPONSIBLE for the repair costs, as well as any rental costs associated with it's repair...

Also, if they do break your chair, remember really hard to try & take good notes, who you talked to & when & what they said... I didn't do that, and was forever rattling my brain to try & remember the details!!

Also, in my case, the manager for the airline in the baggage claim area was supposed to pay my bill, she didn't, she passed my case along to corporate, but never confirmed with them that they got it or paid it... so if your info gets passed along, make sure you know WHO it got passed onto & talk with THEM to be sure you are where you need to be, ultimately it was the mgr. in baggage that was supposed to have paid it... I guess, this all says good communication is a MUST in this scenario...

But, quite frankly, I'm just thrilled that my chair made it through this time around & that I had such a good experience... I say SOUTHWEST RULES!!

 

[mamajoan]

Nanajo.. wow sounds like you have a really nice w/c set up! Good for you!! I was wondering.. Do you have a Jay=back cushion set? The one where the Back of the chair is a Jay cushion product but is part of the chair? I agree with Chris on taking your cushion with you on carry on.. Jay cushions are way to costly.....
I found that the cushions fit really nice in one of those extra large canvas tote bags.. usually available in the summer time around here.
Thanks for the new thread Sue..

 

[SueM in MN]

That's a great idea Sue!! But, in the spirit of fairness it might be a good idea to also post our flying experience from February (disaster that it was), so that if somebody does get into trouble flying, they maybe have an idea of how to go about getting the situation rectified... Because as much as we might try to get our chairs safely to their destination, it might not happen that way!!

A very good idea. I linked this thread and the new thread together. When I have a little time, I will find your thread from last Spring and make a link to that in the new thread too.

 

[chris1gill]

Great news, thanks Sue!!

 

[Nanajo1]

Mamajoan,
I've had my Invacare, Action Storm for about 5 years. My back is a detachable "S" pad which is adjustable. I said leg rests but I really meant foot rests. They can swing to the side so I can stand and they also detach. My arm rests also can detach. I'm thinking I would have to really dismantle my chair to protect all the removable parts. My carry on bag would be huge! Maybe I'll rethink taking my chair as it starting to sound too complicated for my simple mind!