Wheelchair Help

[Firepath]

I don’t normally use a wheelchair but got a manual one for our trip (it’s a Drive Silver Sport II). Now I’m starting to get worried about flying with it and if it will fit. Anyone fly with a manual chair and have any tips?

 

[SueM in MN]

We‘ve flown with our daughter’s manual wheelchair twice a year for many years.
We always gate check it - we can take it right to the door of the plane and it is taken down for storage. After landing, it is brought back up to the door of the plane. It does take a while for it to be brought up, so expect you may be last off the plane.

Most airplanes don’t have an onboard storage closet; check with your airline for their particular equipment and the size.

For Disney, they specify mobility devices like wheelchairs can’t be wider than 36 inches or longer than 52 inches.
Disney Property Rules

 

[mamabunny]

I don’t normally use a wheelchair but got a manual one for our trip (it’s a Drive Silver Sport II). Now I’m starting to get worried about flying with it and if it will fit. Anyone fly with a manual chair and have any tips?

At TSA, if you can walk through the scanner, then your chair will be checked separately by a TSA agent and returned to you. If you are able to walk with assistance, a wooden cane will be provided (it doesn’t mess up the scanners) to help you stand up. If you cannot stand or walk and require your chair, then you will be allowed to remain in the chair, and both you and the chair will be checked together, by hand. Allow some extra time for this.

Remember you will be gate-checking the chair, so figure that into your pre-flight routine. I like to approach the gate agent as soon as they start working the flight, and (line up if needed) to let them know that I will be gate-checking. Usually they will go ahead and give you your gate check ticket right then, and then when your boarding group is called, you will take the chair down the ramp to the aircraft door (be sure you, or the person pushing you can control the chair on the slope) and once you are at the door, remove *everything* from any pockets, and take any bags, etc. off the chair. Fold the chair, and hand it off to a host or other designated person to be placed in the hold under the aircraft. Do not leave any personal belongings in or on the chair that you would be upset about losing.

Some aircraft do have an onboard storage closet, but in this day and age, with every inch accounted for in the cabin, it is more likely your chair will go under the plane, rather than in it.

When you arrive at your layover, or your destination, the chair will be brought back up outside the aircraft door and left for you. Typically the aircraft will be at least 50% unloaded by the time I get my personal device back. You can move up to a front-row seat to wait (once they are empty) and ask a flight attendant if they could please let you know when you chair is brought up.

You (or the person pushing you) will go up the ramp, and into the terminal.

That’s the major high points.

Do remember that if you are using a manual chair for the first time at WDW that the average guest walks between 3 & 10 miles per day; this is far in excess of what most of us typically walk (or propel) in our daily lives. It takes time to build the strength and stamina required to self-propel an entire trip at WDW, so it might be advisable to bring a helper to push.

Have a great trip!

 

[Firepath]

At TSA, if you can walk through the scanner, then your chair will be checked separately by a TSA agent and returned to you. If you are able to walk with assistance, a wooden cane will be provided (it doesn’t mess up the scanners) to help you stand up. If you cannot stand or walk and require your chair, then you will be allowed to remain in the chair, and both you and the chair will be checked together, by hand. Allow some extra time for this.

Remember you will be gate-checking the chair, so figure that into your pre-flight routine. I like to approach the gate agent as soon as they start working the flight, and (line up if needed) to let them know that I will be gate-checking. Usually they will go ahead and give you your gate check ticket right then, and then when your boarding group is called, you will take the chair down the ramp to the aircraft door (be sure you, or the person pushing you can control the chair on the slope) and once you are at the door, remove *everything* from any pockets, and take any bags, etc. off the chair. Fold the chair, and hand it off to a host or other designated person to be placed in the hold under the aircraft. Do not leave any personal belongings in or on the chair that you would be upset about losing.

Some aircraft do have an onboard storage closet, but in this day and age, with every inch accounted for in the cabin, it is more likely your chair will go under the plane, rather than in it.

When you arrive at your layover, or your destination, the chair will be brought back up outside the aircraft door and left for you. Typically the aircraft will be at least 50% unloaded by the time I get my personal device back. You can move up to a front-row seat to wait (once they are empty) and ask a flight attendant if they could please let you know when you chair is brought up.

You (or the person pushing you) will go up the ramp, and into the terminal.

That’s the major high points.

Do remember that if you are using a manual chair for the first time at WDW that the average guest walks between 3 & 10 miles per day; this is far in excess of what most of us typically walk (or propel) in our daily lives. It takes time to build the strength and stamina required to self-propel an entire trip at WDW, so it might be advisable to bring a helper to push.

Have a great trip!

Thank you! How can I be sure the wheelchair will fit? I live where there’s a small airport thus small aircraft. I’ve flown before with the disability, but not the chair.

 

[SueM in MN]

Thank you! How can I be sure the wheelchair will fit? I live where there’s a small airport thus small aircraft. I’ve flown before with the disability, but not the chair.

Contact your airline about the particular airplane type they are using. Your wheelchair looks like it folds from side to side. That should not be an issue for any plane.

In general, the only wheelchairs that are likely to be too big are some power wheelchairs. Even those might fit if they are placed on their side - that is DEFINITELY not something that should be done with a power wheelchair.

 

[KPeterso]

I just recently flew the first time with my Mom's manual wheelchair. I looked on my airline's website for any information and found a number for Delta Disability Services, so I called them for info. I was told to download a form to have filled out (that no one ever looked at either way) and expressed our desire to take the chair all the way to the gate. Delta also moved our seats further forward from regular main cabin to preferred seats so my Mom did not have to walk as far on the plane --- that was so nice and not expected. And our return flight, they actually moved us up even further to the bulkhead row in the Comfort section which was so unexpected! One thing I discovered is to pack the carry ons much less as I could not be my Mom's personal sherpa and push the wheelchair and the bags. Learn from my mistake. She did push it a bit like a walker until we checked our bags.

We have TSA pre check which may have made security easier, but the above was true. My Mom was asked if she could walk a little and they looked over the chair and at LAX, I am not sure where they took her to scan her as I had the wheelchair and carryons (and was dealing with her liquids and they were asking where she was).

At the gate, I went up as soon as I saw someone working and was able to get the pink gate check ticket to put on the wheelchair. On our return trip, I took just the tag up to the gate and they said the same one was fine and scanned it for the return trip. We were first to board and at arrival, our chair was brought up right away. We were going to wait but since I saw the wheelchair go up, we went ahead and got off the plane. I had a small bag that I used for the leg rests and our cup holder that I removed from the chair and then carried on the plane with me.

It all definitely added more time, but we were glad to have it for the airport and for around the resort and until we got our scooter delivered for the rest of the trip.

 

[Lewisc]

Do remember that if you are using a manual chair for the first time at WDW that the average guest walks between 3 & 10 miles per day; this is far in excess of what most of us typically walk (or propel) i

Might also be longer then a family member can push. There is a reason some people only need scooters at WDW

 

[KPeterso]

Might also be longer then a family member can push. There is a reason some people only need scooters at WDW

So true. I can push my Mom in the wheelchair at Disneyland, but at WDW, we rent her a scooter. I can do a day here and there, but 10 days is just too much and too hard on me.

 

[Firepath]

Might also be longer then a family member can push. There is a reason some people only need scooters at WDW

I heard that fingerless gloves help. We’ll see.

 

[TillyMarigold]

I heard that fingerless gloves help. We’ll see.

They help with hand soreness (although mostly for the person who is using the chair if they are working it themselves). They don't help with the physical effort of pushing the 100+ pounds of a wheelchair and its occupant around for miles and miles and hours and hours for several days in a row.

 

[mamabunny]

They help with hand soreness (although mostly for the person who is using the chair if they are working it themselves). They don't help with the physical effort of pushing the 100+ pounds of a wheelchair and its occupant around for miles and miles and hours and hours for several days in a row.

They *might* help prevent blisters - if the wheelchair has the old shiny hard black plastic handles for the pusher. I got some of the worst blisters I have ever experienced one time at WDW, pushing my Mom (back when I was still ambulatory). Before the end of the first day, my hands were raw, and I was desperate for both padding and bandages.

That’s the primary reason I have adovcated for others to use them all these years; not every pusher - or every wheelchair user - will need them, but those who do will be glad they have them.

 

[RoseGold]

I've gate checked much larger than that on all types of planes, all kinds of airlines. You gate check it, and they throw them with the strollers. A normal manual chair will be no big deal on a plane. Heck, it's smaller than some strollers. If it folds, I wouldn't worry about it at all.

 

[SueM in MN]

They *might* help prevent blisters - if the wheelchair has the old shiny hard black plastic handles for the pusher. I got some of the worst blisters I have ever experienced one time at WDW, pushing my Mom (back when I was still ambulatory). Before the end of the first day, my hands were raw, and I was desperate for both padding and bandages.

That’s the primary reason I have adovcated for others to use them all these years; not every pusher - or every wheelchair user - will need them, but those who do will be glad they have them.

Gloves are a tool that work for some people and not for others.

My family tried them once because so many people recommended them. That was the only time we got blisters - our hands got very hot and sweaty.

If they work for you, go for it. But, if not, they are just a possible tool that didn’t work for you.