Getting someone who needs special assistance from gate to rental car and rental car drop off to gate??

[kathy884]

Hello,
I will be taking my 85 year old dad to Orlando for a trip next March. We have both always wanted to do Epcot Flower and Garden together and are finally actually doing this. Dad has limited mobility and needs wheel chair assistance to / from airline gates and will be renting a scooter at the parks (We will be doing one day at SeaWorld and two days at Epcot). We have three other days (a resort day and two relative visiting days.) Dad is fine getting in/out of the car, and walking a little bit (but he really can't handle walking very far and uses a cane), and we will bring his handicapped sticker along so we can park closer (I will have a rental car). And I will be looking for a manual wheelchair too to shorten the walk for him from the parking lot to the park entrance and stations where we will do the scooter rental. (He does not want to bring a transport chair, wheelchair, or have a us rent an ECV except at the parks, and he has been fine in Orlando doing trips like this before when he would travel with my mom - unfortunately my wonderful lovely mother passed away in 2019). It is true that he really won't need an ECV for our non park days. This is all new to me, as I will be accompanying him on this trip and don't have experience with this.

My main concern and what I don't know about now is how will I get dad from the gate in Orlando to the rental car? Can the skycap helping us with gate assistance accompany us all the way to the rental car place (of course we would tip generously)? I just don't have a clue as to how I manage that. And then what happens on the return trip. How to I manage to get dad and luggage from the rental car place and find a skycap to give gate assistance?

Or Should I be leaving dad somewhere when we arrive (find a nice place for him to sit with the luggage), go get the rental car, and then come over to pick him up vs. trying to take him and luggage with me to the rental car place on our trip out? He has a cell phone for communication with me. And on our way home, should I be parking the rental car in the parking garage and get dad over to Southwest with some employee assistance and then go back to my car in the parking garage, return the rental car, and meet up with him at the gate?

Thank you for any and all help. I don't have any understanding as to how to manage these logistics. I will leave plenty of extra time.

 

[Poohs Pal]

I would call the airline. I have a friend that uses the wheelchair assistance provided by the airline when she travels. They meet her as she exits the plane and take her out to the person picking her up at the airport. Not sure about assistance to the rental site. It has been a long time since I have rented a car at MCO and it was off site. Shuttle service was provided to hertz. She usually sets up the wheelchair assistance with the airline the minute she books her flight.

 

[kathy884]

Thanks. I signed dad up for wheelchair assistance online when I booked with Southwest. I will call them to find out more about the logistics. at MCO I will call the rental car company too, so that both can help me come up with a game plan. I need to do the same thing at Midway airport in Chicago too. I am flying to Midway, getting a car, staying overnight with my dad and taking him to the airport to fly to Orlando with him the next day,, and on the back end flying back with him, renting a car to take him home, staying overnight, and then returning the car and doing my next day short direct flight back to STL (St. Louis) where I live. (Three car rentals on this trip). He lives a good hour away from Midway airport in Chicago and that hour is when there is almost no traffic which in the Chicagoland area is almost never.

l have used skycap before when traveling by myself with a toddler to assist me and come with me all the way to my rental car, back in the day when I was traveling with a stroller, a car seat, and a portable crib on one trip on my own when I was meeting extended family (DH wasn't with me on that trip.) It's the only time in my life I ever flashed money to a skycap person and said, I'll make it worth your while, but I need you to come with me all the way to my rental car. I must have tipped generously enough as they gave me contact information and said to call them when I was coming back to the airport on my way home and they would meet me back at the rental car place, but that was a long time ago and the Phoenix airport. (Stuff at major airports these days seem to be getting more and more spread out all the time (I'm liking the little airports more)-- just navigated DEN last weekend -- the distance between places there and number of shuttles you need to take is insane -- a good airport to leave plenty of time at). The skycaps perform a very valuable service and I for one certainly appreciate their being available. They are worth their weight in gold when you need them.

 

[dreamscometrue47]

I did a ton of air travel when I worked and due to back issues, could no longer stand or walk for periods of time. The skycaps, airline employees etc at every airport with the exception of O Hare were phenomenal. I did request wheelchair assistance when booking flights, got to the airport early, and was swept away to my gate. On arrival, most of the time a wheelchair was waiting for me and always took me to the onsite Hertz. Yes I did tip generously.
Now when I travel with husband in wheelchair, I have private car service bring us to the airport where again we get our wheelchairs at the curb. I usually get pushed to car rental and then pick husband up. Hertz would drive us, in the rental, on return to airport. Or if I was feeling OK I'd return rental, take shuttle to airport.
Tips are an important part of our travel budget!

 

[Baytothemax]

I don’t want to worry you but the past trip, there was a severe lack of wheelchairs and transporters in airports. My guess is they were let go during travel lull and nobody has been rehired. My home airport was fine because they would quickly cart you to gate. Baltimore literally had 0 wheelchairs. I luckily was one gate away so I could walk. If I was further I would have been sunk. The gate agent told my friends to walk around try to see if they could find one for me. They were also unsuccessful.
Orlando had to wait until the first person using chair was taken to seating area to wait until all who needed chairs could get off plane to wait for chair to come get them. I had waited the entire plane emptying and there were still people left waiting.

In short, I’d say don’t depend on the airport to be able to transport you. If you need truly cannot make your way through an airport, bring a transport chair from home until you can get to ecv

If he doesn’t have a wheelchair there is probably someplace local to you that will rent one (like a surgical supply store)

 

[Evita_W]

Best of luck at MCO, honestly, it may currently be best to just bring your own device.

 

[kathy884]

I bought dad a transport chair back in 2019 when I thought he was going to go on a cruise with us and wanted to make sure we'd be able to get him off the cruise with that without waiting for wheelchair assist to make sure we would make our flight connection. I'll talk to him and bring that. on the trip. I will need to change what I selected for the flights to say that we will have our own chair. When first booking I said no on that. With that as long as we drop off our luggage first, we could get to the gate on our own. I will also in this case not have a carry on so that I would be able to manage the transport chair. He would still be able to bring a small back pack as a carry on that he could put on his lap. I think we could manage a cane for him too. The nice think about the transport chair is that it is a lot lighter than a wheelchair for putting in and out of the car (very easy for me to manage for that).

Appreciate all the posts and advice.

Oh and as a follow-up I did try to call Enterprise and Southwest. With Enterprise I tried to get thru to the local people at Midway. First I got their call center who then transferred me to the local phone. But no one answered right away, I went back to the menu, and then to the call center again. I gave up and will just talk to them after flight 1 when I arrive to Midway on my own without dad and pick up the car there that I will be driving to his house. I next called Southwest (but from the news we all know about all their flight cancelations). This was before I knew about that. Anyway, I got a message that told me my wait time would be more than 120 minutes. I decided that I will talk to them at Midway too.

 

[RoseGold]

I would bring your own device. This plan has too much room for failure. Skycaps are not the top priority in the labor shortage issues.

I’d also think about the non-park day plan. Orlando hotels can be huge with hundreds of rooms, spread out like giant Vegas casinos. Just getting to the lobby can be a mobility challenge.

I’d locally rent a small power chair. Then you don’t have to mess with this every day and you know it’s done. Side benefit to this is you can take it into places like dining and restrooms, as opposed to huge rental scooters you have to park. That can really add up for someone with limited mobility.

 

[Disneylvr]

I bought dad a transport chair back in 2019 when I thought he was going to go on a cruise with us and wanted to make sure we'd be able to get him off the cruise with that without waiting for wheelchair assist to make sure we would make our flight connection. I'll talk to him and bring that. on the trip. I will need to change what I selected for the flights to say that we will have our own chair. When first booking I said no on that. With that as long as we drop off our luggage first, we could get to the gate on our own. I will also in this case not have a carry on so that I would be able to manage the transport chair. He would still be able to bring a small back pack as a carry on that he could put on his lap. I think we could manage a cane for him too. The nice think about the transport chair is that it is a lot lighter than a wheelchair for putting in and out of the car (very easy for me to manage for that).

Appreciate all the posts and advice.

Oh and as a follow-up I did try to call Enterprise and Southwest. With Enterprise I tried to get thru to the local people at Midway. First I got their call center who then transferred me to the local phone. But no one answered right away, I went back to the menu, and then to the call center again. I gave up and will just talk to them after flight 1 when I arrive to Midway on my own without dad and pick up the car there that I will be driving to his house. I next called Southwest (but from the news we all know about all their flight cancelations). This was before I knew about that. Anyway, I got a message that told me my wait time would be more than 120 minutes. I decided that I will talk to them at Midway too.

I sent a message through Facebook to MCO about wheelchair assistance concerns. They acknowledged that it is a problem due to shortage of staff but also stated that they are airline employees and I needed to contact Southwest directly. Well, you know what the wait times now days just to talk to someone at Southwest, and everywhere really.

 

[RoseGold]

They acknowledged that it is a problem due to shortage of staff but also stated that they are airline employees and I needed to contact Southwest directly.

This makes me nervous for your plan. I don't see a magical solution to the labor shortage in a few months, especially for airlines.

 

[Disneylvr]

This makes me nervous for your plan. I don't see a magical solution to the labor shortage in a few months, especially for airlines.

Yeah, I know. I am very nervous too. I am a member of a Facebook group where this is also being discussed. Some positive experiences but also a lot of negative ones.

 

[Lewisc]

No problem getting wheel chair assistance from the plane to the gate area. MCO is understaffed. Can someone from your party push the wheel chair from the gate area to the care rental garage? Otherwise you may have a wait. Make sure both brakes are set when riding on the tram from the gate area to the main terminal.

I'd rent an ECV, from an outside company, for your entire stay.

 

[kathy884]

Thanks all. My new plan is to bring our transport chair on the trip. And I can push dad if assistance is not available, take this with us on airport shuttle buses, etc. I drop off luggage first, freeing me up to be able to push dad in the transport chair and then drop off rental car. Dad wants to go with me for the rental car drop off and pickups.

Dad is very insistent on just renting the ECV at Epcot (both days) and SeaWorld (one day) - not getting one for the whole trip, so I will go with his preferences. The advice to get one for the whole trip is good (better ECV, lower cost, ECV could be used other places vs. just the parks), but we don't want to bother with getting that in and out of the car and dad just doesn't want to do it that way. Actually given our setup for resort days we should be fine. We are at an offsite condo where we park right in front and are on the ground level (easy peasy). We are also very close to one of the resort pools at the timeshare place (so dad can walk over to resort pool.). My nephew's home in Orlando will be no problem for dad. Also, assisted living facility in Tampa where we will be visiting my cousin will be no problem for dad. I will keep the transport chair in the rental car for dad too, just in case we need it, but I believe we will only use it at airports.

Thanks so much for the warnings about staff shortages, etc. and the many great suggestions.

I actually did look at Limo service instead of renting the car at Midway (Chicago) at both ends, but ouch it's 120 each way for economy car limo service to and from dad's house, so that would set us back $480 plus tips. My rental car on both ends at Midway is $78, so OOO is $156 plus gas, enough of a savings ($324) for it to be worth it for us to deal with slightly more complicated, but not too overly crazy logistics.

 

[RoseGold]

A middle ground solution might be the Travelscoot. This would require some battery hygenie at WDW, but would be a more permanent solution to mobility without feeling like it's a whole big deal ECV. Folds down to easily go on a plane. If he could use an ECV in his every day life, this might be the time to make the jump.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Thanks all. My new plan is to bring our transport chair on the trip. And I can push dad if assistance is not available, take this with us on airport shuttle buses, etc. I drop off luggage first, freeing me up to be able to push dad in the transport chair and then drop off rental car. Dad wants to go with me for the rental car drop off and pickups.

Dad is very insistent on just renting the ECV at Epcot (both days) and SeaWorld (one day) - not getting one for the whole trip, so I will go with his preferences. The advice to get one for the whole trip is good (better ECV, lower cost, ECV could be used other places vs. just the parks), but we don't want to bother with getting that in and out of the car and dad just doesn't want to do it that way. Actually given our setup for resort days we should be fine. We are at an offsite condo where we park right in front and are on the ground level (easy peasy). We are also very close to one of the resort pools at the timeshare place (so dad can walk over to resort pool.). My nephew's home in Orlando will be no problem for dad. Also, assisted living facility in Tampa where we will be visiting my cousin will be no problem for dad. I will keep the transport chair in the rental car for dad too, just in case we need it, but I believe we will only use it at airports.

Thanks so much for the warnings about staff shortages, etc. and the many great suggestions.

I actually did look at Limo service instead of renting the car at Midway (Chicago) at both ends, but ouch it's 120 each way for economy car limo service to and from dad's house, so that would set us back $480 plus tips. My rental car on both ends at Midway is $78, so OOO is $156 plus gas, enough of a savings ($324) for it to be worth it for us to deal with slightly more complicated, but not too overly crazy logistics.

are you planning to rope drop each of those 2 days? Disney has been known to run out of ECVs around noon. can not reserve ahead it is first come first served

 

[kathy884]

are you planning to rope drop each of those 2 days? Disney has been known to run out of ECVs around noon. can not reserve ahead it is first come first served

Yes. Good point and thank you for mentioning this -- We are early risers and will be there before rope drop both days at Epcot and will be there at park opening at SeaWorld too. We with this in the past at least we have always been able to get an ECV (even Christmas week lol).

As offsite visitors though, onsite guest might be able to get into the park earlier than we can?? I'm thinking we might be able to get into the park early and get our ECV even if we can't as offsite visitors can't get in line for attractions yet. It used to be a physical rope, but on more recent visits it seem you can get in and spread out, but not get to attractions or certain sections of the park.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Yes. Good point and thank you for mentioning this -- We are early risers and will be there before rope drop both days at Epcot and will be there at park opening at SeaWorld too. We with this in the past at least we have always been able to get an ECV (even Christmas week lol).

As offsite visitors though, onsite guest might be able to get into the park earlier than we can?? I'm thinking we might be able to get into the park early and get our ECV even if we can't as offsite visitors can't get in line for attractions yet. It used to be a physical rope, but on more recent visits it seem you can get in and spread out, but not get to attractions or certain sections of the park.

if early day for onsite and if what I have been reading is correct you might not be able to get to rental area until after opening as they have been holding offsite at the tap in not after be sure to check this out. granted it was precovid but even onsite and not a busy week day not able to get ECV at 10 in morning and I was not first on the waiting list

 

[Evita_W]

I sent a message through Facebook to MCO about wheelchair assistance concerns. They acknowledged that it is a problem due to shortage of staff but also stated that they are airline employees and I needed to contact Southwest directly. Well, you know what the wait times now days just to talk to someone at Southwest, and everywhere really.

They are NOT airline employees, the airlines will make that clear real fast.

 

[Disneylvr]

They are NOT airline employees, the airlines will make that clear real fast.

It really doesn't matter to me if they are considered actual airline employees or contracted, it is the airline that arranges the wheelchair assistance for their passengers and that is who we have to communicate our needs to.

 

[Evita_W]

It really doesn't matter to me if they are considered actual airline employees or contracted, it is the airline that arranges the wheelchair assistance for their passengers and that is who we have to communicate our needs to.

Except, when there and you have an issue, the airline personnel will tell you that you have to speak with airport personnel. The only exception DH has had is with Southwest, they kept.on them until someone came.