Southwest Airlines Boarding with Disabilities

[wheeliefun]

Does anyone have boarding strategies for Southwest? My mother-in- law has recently been incapacitated and is non weight bearing on her legs. Last year we enjoyed 2 weeks at WDW but she was able to negotiate with cane and wheelchair. I have spoken to the local TSA and gate agents and they reccommend getting to the airport early and asking for a blue preboard sleeve.

Any other strategies to get one of the first 4 seats as transfer from wheelchair to other seats will be very difficult.

Thanks in advance, god willing we will make or trip in November 2010.
Wheelie

 

[J/T Gramdma]

Inform the desk the your Mom is not able towalk and then they preboard her with a sw airline wheel chair designed to use on the airplane as regular wheelchair do not work.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Inform the desk the your Mom is not able towalk and then they preboard her with a sw airline wheel chair designed to use on the airplane as regular wheelchair do not work.

Half-half. It'll depend through which door SW boards and which seats they allow preboarders to occupy and which not. I'm not from the US so don't get to fly SW and can't talk about them specifically. I can talk from knowing the type of aircrafts etc. For many 737's, the boarding is done very close to the first row of seats. If crew and those providing assistance cooperate (this can be a problem sometimes, they seem to not know this is possible and "fight" that it is) and the mom in person can still make a "step, turn, sit"-transfer, she could board without using an aislechair -official name of wheelchair used to board a plane-, by simply boarding in her own chair and use that 'step-turn-sit'. Even if she's totally non weightbearing it might be doable, depening on how she can make transfers assisted. It all depends on individuals needs, abilities, type of aircraft and the door used to board.


Wheelie, when in ANY doubt; let SW know she'll need the aislechair to board. As said not familiar with SW, but most airlines will let those needing the aislechair board before letting any other preboarders on. Read; those needing the most intensive assistance first. That allows for more space to move, not feeling rushed and the safest way. If not absolutely sure you'll be boarding through the door right in front of seats she's allowed to occupy; order the aislechair. Call SW and have them note it on there. Repeat at the check in desk and at the gate. Aislechair using also required airportassistance to get involved, not allowed to do this yourself. Benefit of that is that there are now 2 parties looking out for MIL's best interest. Always remember that it is easier to decide the aislechair isn't needed after all, than not asking for one and then finding it's needed.

As far as preboarding goes; with SW being a "first come, first serve" airline, I'ld take the road of following that policy as much as possible. So I wouldn't have my extended family of 7 preboard with me but one or perhaps 2 at most if I'ld need them for certain assistance during boarding and/or flight. Obviously nobody is going to leave young children to vent for themselves but in those cases it could be worth it to split the adults up; one to help with the preboard, the other to deal with the kids. A little curtousy goes a long way, esp. with an airline that has "first come, first serve" seating. Those that grumble about one or 2 persons in a party preboarding because of a need are just that; Grumpy's family. Their problem. Those that grumble about extended family including Uncle Bob, nephews-nephews-hairdressers-dogwalker and 9 others preboarding along with the one individual needing assistance; yeah they've got a right to grumble IMHO. Allthough always it's the airline that's responsible to take care of these things, it doesn't exhonorate us humans from taking our share also IMHO. Heck, I adopt the same opinion whenever it comes to me preboarding flights with seatingassignment and without alike.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Southwest will provide the blue jacket at the airport and she will be a pre-board with only 1 additional person. You may want to note that on our flight back from Orlando, there were 8 wheelchair bound passengers in the pre-board line along with a few others. There is no particular order except first come, first serve. They are very nice (well all the flights we encountered, and no questions are asked when you go to get the blue jacket except that the 1 additional person only will apply to everyone.) Have a safe trip.

Edited to add, at our flights they specifically asked you if you had little children. If you do, they offered their assistance boarding you if you could not separate the party. So if their were two parents and two children, they would help the person in the wheelchair pre-board and the other parent waited with the children until the family boarding was called. I am by means an expert as we have only flown Southwest a few times, but this has always been the case. And just so you know all our flights were full, so that may make a difference.

 

[wheeliefun]

Thaank you for the informative replies.
I have taken some advice and requested the aisle chair (thanks goofies longlostsis).
Luckily, I live about 5 minutes from our airport so had talked with a nice TSA agent about the blue preboard sleeve. Unfortunately, the terminal line was very long when I went over the other day so I also asked the Southwest skycap if they made that blue folder available outside and it seems like we will need to ask the insider terminal people.

We have travelled with our toddlers enough that we can certainly get them on board and settled in at anytime, ie without preboard assistance. I'm really just concerned with my MIL. Last year we travelled and she could transfer and walk short periods but this year she really should not and it is all new to us.

The beauty of having a "small" airport in my backyard is I could get some information, yet like Tinker stated, I am most worried about the trip home from MCO. Last year we arrived 2 hours early and the line was enormous and I heard many people missed their flights, of course this was December 20, so I'm sure there were more Holiday delays. This year, flying on a Monday to hope (HOPE) to avoid some congestion.

Thanks again for all your suggestions. We've been to WDW 4 times in the past few years but this year wil be the first with serious health/mobility concerns and just trying to be prepared as possible.

Wheelie

 

[shellybaxter]

The blue pre board sleaves are at the gate - not at the check in counters

 

[bookwormde]

The general policy is 1 person to meet the needs of the disability, but if more than one is needed then that is typically accommodated. SW typically has a customer service desk at each concourse so just ask any gate agent to direct you to them, in some smaller airports they are one in the same, most of SW gate agents are trained as CROs (conflict resolution officials) so it is very rare to have an issue.

 

[Mike Bartenhagen]

We just returned from a trip to Orlando flying on Southwest with our son who is in a wheelchair, on the trip down we had one connection and on the return we had a direct so we had a total of three times to board a SW flight, I did see one person with the blue jacket but we didn't have one and preboarded each time with no problems as a family of 5. At our connection in Chicago the lady at the gate was kind of a b*&%h about it but she was from Chicago so we didn't expect any different. We have flown many times on SW with my son and never had a problem preboarding with a wheelchair, we just got in line when they called for preboard...never a blue sleeve.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Mike, respectfully, and despite having the wheelchair as visible evidence of the need to preboard, it's entirely reasonable to obtain the blue sleeve every time - since this is Southwest's policy. Too, it makes sense to comply with their policy that only one person accompany the passenger in need of assistance (unless, for example, all the other members of the party are young minors incapable of waiting their turrn to board in accordance with the/any airline's policy).

When someone's treating you in a negative manner, the best way to retaliate is to kill 'em with kindness - in this case, that would mean doing everything possible to comply with the airline's policies and practices.

 

[Mike Bartenhagen]

Mike, respectfully, and despite having the wheelchair as visible evidence of the need to preboard, it's entirely reasonable to obtain the blue sleeve every time - since this is Southwest's policy. Too, it makes sense to comply with their policy that only one person accompany the passenger in need of assistance (unless, for example, all the other members of the party are young minors incapable of waiting their turrn to board in accordance with the/any airline's policy).

When someone's treating you in a negative manner, the best way to retaliate is to kill 'em with kindness - in this case, that would mean doing everything possible to comply with the airline's policies and practices.

We have flown with my son on SouthWest at least 15 times and I had no idea that the blue sleeves even existed until we saw a visually impared person holding one at the Orlando airport so if it is SW policy they sure don't do a very good job of letting people know about it, we always stop at the gate and ask for a ticket for the chair and always have been told to preboard but never been told about a blue folder.

As to boarding with one person, we have a wheelchair that has a removable seat which must be taken on the plane and the chair must be folded so that would require someone holding Broc while at the same time pulling off the seat and folding the chair. Our other children are 10 and 13...not a good idea to leave them alone in an airport and hope they get on. As I said never in 15 trips have we had a problem but the lady in Chicago was a b*&%h, anyone that thinks the advantage of getting on an airplane first outweighs having a child that has 100 seizures per day is misinformed....I would glady be the last on every plane for a day without seizures.

 

[ILoveMyGirls]

not always true about the entire party not boarding with the person in the wheelchair. as i get on with a wheelchair as i am disabled, they always let my DH and two girls go on with me.

Southwest will provide the blue jacket at the airport and she will be a pre-board with only 1 additional person. You may want to note that on our flight back from Orlando, there were 8 wheelchair bound passengers in the pre-board line along with a few others. There is no particular order except first come, first serve. They are very nice (well all the flights we encountered, and no questions are asked when you go to get the blue jacket except that the 1 additional person only will apply to everyone.) Have a safe trip.

Edited to add, at our flights they specifically asked you if you had little children. If you do, they offered their assistance boarding you if you could not separate the party. So if their were two parents and two children, they would help the person in the wheelchair pre-board and the other parent waited with the children until the family boarding was called. I am by means an expert as we have only flown Southwest a few times, but this has always been the case. And just so you know all our flights were full, so that may make a difference.

 

[SueM in MN]

As goofieslonglostsis mentioned, if the plane has a center entrance, you may be able to get the wheelchair onto the plane and close enough to transfer to the airplane seat without using an aisle chair.

If you do need an aisle chair, airline staff will help you to transfer to it, wheel it on board and help you get into the seat.
If you are going to use an aisle chair, it's much easier to do that when preboarding, so they will usually have you preboard.
Here are some pictures of DD with an aisle chair.

There is also further information in post #15 of the disABILITIES FAQs thread near the top of this board (or you can follow the link in my singature to get there).

I can't speak for Southwest because we have never traveled with them, but I can speak of experiences with air travel with multiple airlines over the past 20 years.
In the 'way past' everyone with wheelchairs were pre-boarded automatically, whether they wanted to be or not. You did not have to ask or tell the airline that you wanted to preboard, the gate agents were aware of who in the gate had a wheelchair and just came and got you.
I know that some people with wheelchairs did not want to preboard, but the policies (official or unofficial) of most airlines 20 years ago was that they had to.
After the Air Carriers Access Act (the air travel parallel to the ADA) came into existance, passengers could no longer be required to preboard. Our personal experience is that once it came in, we have to ask to preboard. Sometimes, they will announce preboarding, sometimes not unless you ask.

There are some advantages to preboarding -
One is that you have more time and space to board without other passengers being close around you.
Another is that if you have assistive and/or mobility devices (or in our case, pieces of DD's wheelchair), those have priority for onboard storage, if you choose to preboard. If you do not choose to preboard, if those areas are full when you board, you are out of luck.
Preboarding also gives more time for the baggage handlers to get your wheelchair/ECV down to the baggage compartment.

We have always preboarded with our whole party. Usually it's only DD in wheelchair, DH and me, but we have preboarded with as many as 5, not children. Because DD's wheelchair needs to be partially taken apart, we would not be able to preboard with just one person besides her - we also have each of our carryon bags.

 

[videogal1]

If you have a Service Dog, pre-boarding makes sense, as the only practical place to park a large Service Dog is in the bulkhead row...Only a United flight attendant once tried to force me to park all 100 pounds of Cash under the seat. Southwest attendants always steer us to the front of the line and the bulkhead row, thank goodness.