You can also plan to make use of the skycaps outside the doors. For the cost of a tip, you can check your bags with them and they will call for your wheelchair.
At MCO, do expect a wait for a wheelchair pusher to get to you... possibly a considerable wait. And know that they will take passengers in order of flight departure/boarding time…
not necessarily first come, first served. (That’s true at most airports, though) You still wanna give yourself a hefty time buffer though, because they are spread pretty thin.
Both on the day we arrived & the morning we left, we noticed that a
lot of the porters were pushing two chairs at a time.
The day we left, the porter told my husband that if he was willing to push me, we could tag along with him thru the separate TSA line they go thru. That porter was pushing 2 chairs himself.
I will say he was actually one of the best, most efficient and organized helpers I’ve ever seen. He managed (juggled) the carryon stuff from the 3 of us with wheelchairs, as well as helping keep my husband’s & my belongings grouped together to go thru x-ray. He got the chairs screened and thru in a blink, and had corralled everyones’ belongings on the other side so nothing was left unattended while we all were screened. That dude was a dynamo! I was never able to get his name. I tried asking him at one point, but he didn’t hear me... it was just so, so busy— and it wasnt even 6 in the morning. On a Sunday!
For Delta Airlines— save this number in your phone:
(404) 209-3434. That is Delta’s dedicated help line for passengers with disabilities. It is answered by
real people 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week. If you need assistance at any point and can’t seem to get it from the airport personnel you’re dealing with, call them… they are able to call the airport directly and get appropriate helpers to you wherever you are.
I’ve had to do just that in Seattle when they “parked” me in a little corral & seemingly forgot about me. I couldn’t seem to get the attention of anyone capable of figuring out how to help me… so needing to use the restroom
badly, and fearing that I was going to miss my flight— finally, in desperation, I called that number and like magic, I had a Prospect supervisor (co. that provides the wheelchair porters), airport security (can’t remember if they were Sea-Tac police or TSA), and a couple Delta reps falling all over themselves trying to get me taken care of. All of a sudden, people were coming out of the woodwork to assist me.
I got to my flight on time with a supervisor pushing my chair and a Delta manager-of-something as my personal escort. I kinda wish I had called a lot sooner, because I was getting the VIP treatment and it would’ve been interesting to see what other perks they would’ve offered— the Delta rep mentioned going to the Sky Club… but I didn’t have time.
One last tip— airports all still seem to have the
white courtesy phones peppered throughout. I’ve even heard pages going out over the PA: “Mr So&So, please go to a white courtesy phone" several times in my recent travels. I think most of us barely think of public phones anymore, since we generally always have out personal phone right in our pocket or handbag.
Anyway, those phones put you through directly to the airport operator, who of course would be able to summon assistance for you from the appropriate personnel even if the actual ticket counter for your chosen airline is still seemingly a mile away.
