Ran into big problem w/ DME -- left stranded in parking lot at MCO

[JudyS]

I love WDW and greatly appreciate their many disability-friendly features, but I had a *BIG* problem a few days ago using DME. I would like advice on preventing this from happening again. Also, I want to help ensure that other people don't run into this problem.

I have serious health problems that make it difficult for me to walk more than a few feet. Last week, my husband and I went to WDW and stayed at Saratoga Springs. For most of the week, he pushed me in my wheelchair and that's how I got around. Then he needed to return early to work, so I rented an ECV. There were only a few attractions I could visit (most involved too much time/walking out of the EVC), but I still liked being at WDW and seeing all the flowers, etc.

Since DH had taken our car back to the airport, I planned to use DME to get to the airport. I called DME and asked how I could get assistance in getting me and my wheelchair from the DME drop-off point to the airline check-in area. They said there was nothing they could do; the airlines handle that. So, I called the airline, who told me, "No problem, just ask for help from the first airline employee you see." I tend to be anxious about traveling alone, so when I checked in at my resort for DME, I told the check-in clerks that I would need assistance getting myself and my wheelchair to the gate. Again, they said it was the airline's responsibility and offered no other advice.

I took DME to the airport and once we got off the bus, I didn't see anyone from my airline around, so I asked the bus driver if he could help me. He went a little ways and found someone in a uniform who was holding a luggage trolley and appeared to be a skycap (although the man's uniform had no company name that I recognized.) This man who seemed to be a skycap said he was going off to contact my airline, and left. The bus driver then drove off in the bus. The man who seemed to be a skycap never returned, and no one showed up to help me.

There was hardly anyone around, and the few people who showed up seemed to be employees or passengers on smoking breaks who ignored me if I tried to attract their attention. I was just left in the parking lot. In fact, my luggage and my wheelchair (with me in it) had been left in a bus parking space, which seemed a bit dangerous (although not terribly dangerous, since it was the middle of the day and I was clearly visible.) I needn't have worried about being hit, as it turned out, because no more buses ever showed up.

I tried to call my airline, but it was so noisy with the buses driving by that I couldn't hear anything. After about 20 or 25 minutes, I waved to some pilots I saw walking a ways off. They were very nice and took me to my airline ticket counter, even though they worked for a competing airline. By this point, though, I was crying and quite upset.

How can this problem be avoided in the future? I could pay for a cab and just never take DME to the airport again, but what about other wheelchair users who don't know about this problem and might end up stranded like I was? It seems to me that Disney's policy was just "We're going to dump you in the middle of a parking space, and if you get lucky, maybe someone will walk by eventually and help you." And, they don't even tell you in advance that this is their policy, so you can't make an informed decision about whether it's worth the risk to take DME or not.

I understand Disney's point that it's the airlines' responsibility, not theirs, to get passengers from the bus drop-off to the gate. But Disney doesn't tell passengers exactly when DME will get them to the airport (the DME bus might stop at several other resorts, or not), or which of the many parking spaces their DME bus will use. So, how can the airline even know where and when to pick me up?

I can think of several ways this problem might be solved -- DME could put some sort of courtesy phone in the bus unloading area that disabled passengers could use to contact a skycap. Or, the bus driver could alert the airline when a passenger who needs wheelchair assistance is being dropped off. Or, if a passenger will need assistance to get to the gate, DME could put them in a cab or van, which would drop them off at curbside check-in. But none of that was available to me on this trip.

Any ideas on fixing this? Is there someone I can contact (who can do more than just say, "It's not our problem")?

 

[disney david]

It not the driver or dme Responsibility to help once your off the bus it has to be someone from the airline. Not sure what their called but dme and the people who check you in at the resort can't help so I wouldn't blame dme. The driver for someone go thought might be able to help. They have to stick to a schedule so he held up his bus to help but the person he got didn't follow through. You contacted your airline find you tell them your be dropped off by dme. I would call your airline and complain and next time let them know when you book the flight the sooner you can the better.

Did you have a lift bus was their anyone else their from mears you could of asked them to get you some one. Sorry it happened like that and how it dose not happen again. Dme is their to get you from and to Disney once at the airport once off the bus their responsibility ends. The airport and airline have to take over the response ability to get you to the airplane safely.

It not Disney owned buses it mears if you rent a car you my not know the exact time you get their either.

Bottom line it not Disney or mears responsibility to get you to the gate it the airline and airport. They dropped the ball not Disney or mears the sky cap that their to help with the bags should of got someone to help you they didn't so their the problem.

 

[akcire]

I love WDW and greatly appreciate their many disability-friendly features, but I had a *BIG* problem a few days ago using DME. I would like advice on preventing this from happening again. Also, I want to help ensure that other people don't run into this problem.

I have serious health problems that make it difficult for me to walk more than a few feet. Last week, my husband and I went to WDW and stayed at Saratoga Springs. For most of the week, he pushed me in my wheelchair and that's how I got around. Then he needed to return early to work, so I rented an ECV. There were only a few attractions I could visit (most involved too much time/walking out of the EVC), but I still liked being at WDW and seeing all the flowers, etc.

Since DH had taken our car back to the airport, I planned to use DME to get to the airport. I called DME and asked how I could get assistance in getting me and my wheelchair from the DME drop-off point to the airline check-in area. They said there was nothing they could do; the airlines handle that. So, I called the airline, who told me, "No problem, just ask for help from the first airline employee you see." I tend to be anxious about traveling alone, so when I checked in at my resort for DME, I told the check-in clerks that I would need assistance getting myself and my wheelchair to the gate. Again, they said it was the airline's responsibility and offered no other advice.

I took DME to the airport and once we got off the bus, I didn't see anyone from my airline around, so I asked the bus driver if he could help me. He went a little ways and found someone in a uniform who was holding a luggage trolley and appeared to be a skycap (although the man's uniform had no company name that I recognized.) This man who seemed to be a skycap said he was going off to contact my airline, and left. The bus driver then drove off in the bus. The man who seemed to be a skycap never returned, and no one showed up to help me.

There was hardly anyone around, and the few people who showed up seemed to be employees or passengers on smoking breaks who ignored me if I tried to attract their attention. I was just left in the parking lot. In fact, my luggage and my wheelchair (with me in it) had been left in a bus parking space, which seemed a bit dangerous (although not terribly dangerous, since it was the middle of the day and I was clearly visible.) I needn't have worried about being hit, as it turned out, because no more buses ever showed up.

I tried to call my airline, but it was so noisy with the buses driving by that I couldn't hear anything. After about 20 or 25 minutes, I waved to some pilots I saw walking a ways off. They were very nice and took me to my airline ticket counter, even though they worked for a competing airline. By this point, though, I was crying and quite upset.

How can this problem be avoided in the future? I could pay for a cab and just never take DME to the airport again, but what about other wheelchair users who don't know about this problem and might end up stranded like I was? It seems to me that Disney's policy was just "We're going to dump you in the middle of a parking space, and if you get lucky, maybe someone will walk by eventually and help you." And, they don't even tell you in advance that this is their policy, so you can't make an informed decision about whether it's worth the risk to take DME or not.

I understand Disney's point that it's the airlines' responsibility, not theirs, to get passengers from the bus drop-off to the gate. But Disney doesn't tell passengers exactly when DME will get them to the airport (the DME bus might stop at several other resorts, or not), or which of the many parking spaces their DME bus will use. So, how can the airline even know where and when to pick me up?

I can think of several ways this problem might be solved -- DME could put some sort of courtesy phone in the bus unloading area that disabled passengers could use to contact a skycap. Or, the bus driver could alert the airline when a passenger who needs wheelchair assistance is being dropped off. Or, if a passenger will need assistance to get to the gate, DME could put them in a cab or van, which would drop them off at curbside check-in. But none of that was available to me on this trip.

Any ideas on fixing this? Is there someone I can contact (who can do more than just say, "It's not our problem")?

I'm not an expert so I don't have a solution. That said, I'd be writing a letter to Mears including your reservation number so hopefully they can look up your bus driver. I'd also copy corporate Disney. It may not be their job to get you to a gate, but leaving you in a parking space is unacceptable. Really would getting you to a sidewalk be a unreasonable? I tend to tip the dme drivers. (My kid/luggage/stroller situation is a hot mess). Last time I think the dme guy would have pushed one of my strollers to the gate, he was super helpful. I think you got a dud.

 

[3Gsandme]

I don't have any advice, but I'm sorry that happened to you, Judy.

My best advice is, before your next trip, to research transportation that will be more Judy friendly. Whether or not you were DME's responsibility, they certainly didn't do you any favors.

 

[disney david]

I'm not an expert so I don't have a solution. That said, I'd be writing a letter to Mears including your reservation number so hopefully they can look up your bus driver. I'd also copy corporate Disney. It may not be their job to get you to a gate, but leaving you in a parking space is unacceptable. Really would getting you to a sidewalk be a unreasonable? I tend to tip the dme drivers. (My kid/luggage/stroller situation is a hot mess). Last time I think the dme guy would have pushed one of my strollers to the gate, he was super helpful. I think you got a dud.

Disney and mears wont do anything the driver is protected by the federal law and Ada so their nothing they did nothing wrong. The airline and airport did the driver went and got a skycap what else do you want the driver to do. The Ada clearly states the driver dose not have to help of it will take their eyes of the bus.

 

[taterheads]

I'm so sorry this happened to you! I wish I would have been there to help you to your airline counter. No matter who "should have" gotten you there, there is such a thing as common human decency and someone should have helped you. I'm so sorry you had such a negative experience.

 

[JudyS]

Thanks to everyone who expressed sympathy or made suggestions!

They don't leave her in a parking spot she just upset and dose not know how things work. ...
Disney and mears won't give any money or did anything it the airline and airport that did her wrong.

Sheesh, where did I say I was asking for money??? I don't want any compensation for this; I just want to know how to keep this from happening to me and to other people in the future.

And being left in a parking spot was exactly was happened to me.

....They have to stick to a schedule so he held up his bus to help but the person he got didn't follow through. You contacted your airline find you tell them your be dropped off by dme..... the sky cap that their to help with the bags should of got someone to help you they didn't so their the problem.

I doubt I held up the bus driver's schedule; it took him maybe all of a minute to go ask the skycap guy if he could help me. (OK, now for some Jungle Cruise-style humor -- "I must be the strongest person at WDW! I held up an entire Disney bus!)

The skycap guy probably didn't have any responsibility to help me -- he didn't work for my airline, and he probably didn't work directly for the airport, either. In fact, that seems to be the whole problem -- when you arrive via DME at the airport, there's no one who has the responsibility to help you.

 

[disney david]

Thanks to everyone who expressed sympathy or made suggestions!

Sheesh, where did I say I was asking for money??? I don't want any compensation for this; I just want to know how to keep this from happening to me and to other people in the future.

And being left in a parking spot was exactly was happened to me.

I doubt I held up the bus driver's schedule; it took him maybe all of a minute to go ask the skycap guy if he could help me. (OK, now for some Jungle Cruise-style humor -- "I must be the strongest person at WDW! I held up an entire Disney bus!)

The skycap guy probably didn't have any responsibility to help me -- he didn't work for my airline, and he probably didn't work directly for the airport, either. In fact, that seems to be the whole problem -- when you arrive via DME at the airport, there's no one who has the responsibility to help you.

Sorry I did mean you wanted money just mean in mears and Disney won't really do anything. The skycap could of called the department that the air line uses. They all use the same people I just don't know what their called. But they are the ones that help guest in your situation and I think the airlines pay the airport for the service or te company directly.

I going to give you mears info if you want call them and you can contact Disney but just be prepared for them to five you mears info and pas the buck as they will say it mears who operates that service. But sometimes if mears know you let Disney know they will be in fear if Disney and will work with you more then if you just contact them on your own.

http://www.mearstransportation.com/customer-feedback/

I know it not dme but it mears the same thing except for the airline checkin at the resort that another separate company.

I know your not one of those but I would also complain to your airline as they are the ones that dropped the ball. Well at least you know you held the bus when you asked the driver did he offer to push you up to the side walk. I know it Disney policy not to have their drivers push or touch the wheelchair but not sure about mears. I am guessing you had a lift bus. You might have wild two buses as another bus couldn't pull into that spot. Their should of been other mears workers their or someone else around. All they need to do was to page someone to show up. Because they work of a schedule each person has a list of passengers they have to pick up so they keep check the tip boards for arrival but they should be around departures plus mears and dme should be notify them or working with the airline better.

If you contact them suggest that for every lift bus that pulls into the airport the driver should radio ahead so they could let the service know someone will need help.

It wasn't right to leave you their I thought you was in the sidewalk when the driver went to find someone.

Here the airport info for guest with disabilities it say a sky cap should be able to help and to contact your airline if you need help.

http://www.orlandoairports.net/ops/disabled.htm

Here a comment card for the airport

http://www.orlandoairports.net/contact/comment_card.htm

Hope this helps and sorry

 

[cjbcam]

I know I'm going to get flamed for this one but how is it anyone's responsibility but yours to get you from point a to point b? If you are that helpless you should have someone with you to help you and not depend on mears or the airline. That being said if I was there I would have helped you because it's just common courtesy. I'm sorry this happened to you.

 

[Schmeck]

I love WDW and greatly appreciate their many disability-friendly features, but I had a *BIG* problem a few days ago using DME. I would like advice on preventing this from happening again. Also, I want to help ensure that other people don't run into this problem.

I have serious health problems that make it difficult for me to walk more than a few feet. Last week, my husband and I went to WDW and stayed at Saratoga Springs. For most of the week, he pushed me in my wheelchair and that's how I got around. Then he needed to return early to work, so I rented an ECV. There were only a few attractions I could visit (most involved too much time/walking out of the EVC), but I still liked being at WDW and seeing all the flowers, etc.

Since DH had taken our car back to the airport, I planned to use DME to get to the airport. I called DME and asked how I could get assistance in getting me and my wheelchair from the DME drop-off point to the airline check-in area. They said there was nothing they could do; the airlines handle that. So, I called the airline, who told me, "No problem, just ask for help from the first airline employee you see." I tend to be anxious about traveling alone, so when I checked in at my resort for DME, I told the check-in clerks that I would need assistance getting myself and my wheelchair to the gate. Again, they said it was the airline's responsibility and offered no other advice.

So far, you have been told multiple times that DME will not be able to assist you for transferring to your gate. That should have been a warning that you would need to make sure you had someone from the airline aware that you needed mobility assistance.

I took DME to the airport and once we got off the bus, I didn't see anyone from my airline around, so I asked the bus driver if he could help me. He went a little ways and found someone in a uniform who was holding a luggage trolley and appeared to be a skycap (although the man's uniform had no company name that I recognized.) This man who seemed to be a skycap said he was going off to contact my airline, and left. The bus driver then drove off in the bus. The man who seemed to be a skycap never returned, and no one showed up to help me.

The skycap dropped the ball for the transfer, or the airline did. Still has nothing to do with DME.

There was hardly anyone around, and the few people who showed up seemed to be employees or passengers on smoking breaks who ignored me if I tried to attract their attention. I was just left in the parking lot. In fact, my luggage and my wheelchair (with me in it) had been left in a bus parking space, which seemed a bit dangerous (although not terribly dangerous, since it was the middle of the day and I was clearly visible.) I needn't have worried about being hit, as it turned out, because no more buses ever showed up.

I tried to call my airline, but it was so noisy with the buses driving by that I couldn't hear anything. After about 20 or 25 minutes, I waved to some pilots I saw walking a ways off. They were very nice and took me to my airline ticket counter, even though they worked for a competing airline. By this point, though, I was crying and quite upset.

How can this problem be avoided in the future? I could pay for a cab and just never take DME to the airport again, but what about other wheelchair users who don't know about this problem and might end up stranded like I was? It seems to me that Disney's policy was just "We're going to dump you in the middle of a parking space, and if you get lucky, maybe someone will walk by eventually and help you." And, they don't even tell you in advance that this is their policy, so you can't make an informed decision about whether it's worth the risk to take DME or not.

They don't have to tell you what isn't their policy - it is not their responsibility, so I'm not sure what you expected - you were told multiple times that you needed airline assistance to get to your gate.

I understand Disney's point that it's the airlines' responsibility, not theirs, to get passengers from the bus drop-off to the gate. But Disney doesn't tell passengers exactly when DME will get them to the airport (the DME bus might stop at several other resorts, or not), or which of the many parking spaces their DME bus will use. So, how can the airline even know where and when to pick me up?

You call them from the bus as it gets close to the terminal.

I can think of several ways this problem might be solved -- DME could put some sort of courtesy phone in the bus unloading area that disabled passengers could use to contact a skycap. Or, the bus driver could alert the airline when a passenger who needs wheelchair assistance is being dropped off. Or, if a passenger will need assistance to get to the gate, DME could put them in a cab or van, which would drop them off at curbside check-in. But none of that was available to me on this trip.

You wouldn't have been able to get over to the courtesy phone, so what good would it do? As stated before, DME is nt responsible for any of this, and I think you are asking too much.

Any ideas on fixing this? Is there someone I can contact (who can do more than just say, "It's not our problem")?

You need to contact the correct people, and it's not the DME. Between the skycap and the airline, you were forgotten. If you had notified the airline yourself, before you got off the bus, you hopefully would have avoided the entire scenario. It really isn't Disney's fault, or Mears' fault. The airline is at fault for not coming to get you, and you are at fault for not having a way to get to where you needed to be. I understand the ADA (or is it the FAA guidelines?) requires transportation assistance so I see how you expected it, but you didn't go about it the right way to let them know you needed that assistance.

 

[seashoreCM]

Wait a minute! You weren't left in a parking space in the middle of nowhere such as in a shopping center. As I read the description, you were left in a parking space right up against the sidewalk just outside the terminal building, the same place everyone else gets off the bus.

Were there passers by not that far away whom you could yell out to for help calling a skycap or something like that?

How far away was the nearest wheelchair ramp from street to sidewalk level and how far out of the way was that from the nearest door into the terminal? Maybe there was noncompliance with disability laws here.

 

[aaarcher86]

I'm so sorry this happened to you! I wish I would have been there to help you to your airline counter. No matter who "should have" gotten you there, there is such a thing as common human decency and someone should have helped you. I'm so sorry you had such a negative experience.

I totally agree but I think the employees can't help to protect themselves and the company and I can't fault them for that.

OP, I am so incredibly sorry. I don't know what the answer is but hopefully you can find one via writing to Disney.

 

[JudyS]

...how is it anyone's responsibility but yours to get you from point a to point b?

How is it anyone's responsibility but mine? By an Act of Congress, as it happens. (The Americans with Disabilities Act.) I don't know what the law is in Canada, but in the US, there's a legal responsibility for transportation companies to assist disabled passengers. So, I had every reason to expect that to happen. And as I've said earlier on this thread, if I knew no help would be available, I'd have taken a cab.

If you are that helpless you should have someone with you to help you and not depend on mears or the airline. ....

Cjbcam, do you know what it's like to be really sick and have no one to help you? I've fortunately recovered enough to get out of bed, but I used to be really sick, and often I had to lay alone in bed all day, with no one else home. If I needed to pee, I sometimes just had to hold it until my husband got home from work because there was no one to help me to the bathroom. When I was too sick to get out of bed, it would have been nice to "have someone with me to help me." Can you tell me where these magical helpers are supposed to come from? There are millions of very sick and/or very elderly people who could really use them.

You need to contact the correct people, and it's not the DME. Between the skycap and the airline, you were forgotten. If you had notified the airline yourself, before you got off the bus.... you didn't go about it the right way to let them know you needed that assistance.

As I've previously said, I *did* contact the airline, and that didn't work. And in fact, the reason I posted here is to find out what is "the right way," but no one here seems to know.

By the way, I've now complained to the airline about this, and they're claiming the law requires that disabled passengers be taken to Departures, not to other parts of the airport, and that DME/Mears broke the law. I don't know if this is true (and I'm still not trying to get money from Disney -- I've been to WDW at least 40 times and I love it there), but all these "Disney is always right, therefore you must be wrong" posts are just making me more inclined to pursue this.

To the Moderators -- I respectfully request that you add a note to the DME FAQ saying there is a known problem with requesting assistance when using DME to return to the airport. If a person needs assistance they will have to avoid DME and pay for a cab to Departures. Hopefully that will save some other person the problems I encountered.

I have had enough abuse and will not post again on this thread. I request that the thread be closed.

 

[ttintagel]

We need wheelchair assistance at the airport, and we've always been dropped off at the same place as the other DME passengers. The difference is, there have always been airport employees there when the bus unloaded.

 

[disney david]

How is it anyone's responsibility but mine? By an Act of Congress, as it happens. (The Americans with Disabilities Act.) I don't know what the law is in Canada, but in the US, there's a legal responsibility for transportation companies to assist disabled passengers. So, I had every reason to expect that to happen. And as I've said earlier on this thread, if I knew no help would be available, I'd have taken a cab.

Cjbcam, do you know what it's like to be really sick and have no one to help you? I've fortunately recovered enough to get out of bed, but I used to be really sick, and often I had to lay alone in bed all day, with no one else home. If I needed to pee, I sometimes just had to hold it until my husband got home from work because there was no one to help me to the bathroom. When I was too sick to get out of bed, it would have been nice to "have someone with me to help me." Can you tell me where these magical helpers are supposed to come from? There are millions of very sick and/or very elderly people who could really use them.

As I've previously said, I *did* contact the airline, and that didn't work. And in fact, the reason I posted here is to find out what is "the right way," but no one here seems to know.

By the way, I've now complained to the airline about this, and they're claiming the law requires that disabled passengers be taken to Departures, not to other parts of the airport, and that DME/Mears broke the law. I don't know if this is true (and I'm still not trying to get money from Disney -- I've been to WDW at least 40 times and I love it there), but all these "Disney is always right, therefore you must be wrong" posts are just making me more inclined to pursue this.

To the Moderators -- I respectfully request that you add a note to the DME FAQ saying there is a known problem with requesting assistance when using DME to return to the airport. If a person needs assistance they will have to avoid DME and pay for a cab to Departures. Hopefully that will save some other person the problems I encountered.

I have had enough abuse and will not post again on this thread. I request that the thread be closed.

Sorry this is not direct towards you this is directed towards the airline. They can't drop you off at departures as they won't be able to keep the bus their long enough to unload the passengers. And it wouldn't be safe that why they have the area for dme to load and unload. Their no law saying that no airport in the us would allow a bus to load and unload in departures were car load they don't like letting cars stop long enough to pick up a passenger.
It such a safety risk to hade a huge bus stop most people are distracted looking for their passenger to pick up and then figuring out how to get out. That mco not set up for that I just surprised they told you that again sorry I know the airline told you that and not saying your wrong but more the airline might be.

Again sorry this happened but one side note it not Disney that did anything wrong if someone besides the air port and airline. It would be mears it just Disney name on the bus their not Disney employees that driver or work for mears.

 

[KPeveler]

I have closed the thread at the request of the OP.

I will say this - I suggest that all people with disabilities, especially mobility issues, keep the phone number of their airline (the ticket counter phone number if possible) on their person. It may be that an airline drops the ball and does not have someone waiting or ready to pick up the guest from DME. I will say that I have never heard of anyone being left in the parking spot before, but that mistakes do happen, and the airline should have had someone there. Especially if you are unable to move yourself at all, you should have phone numbers just in case.