Wheelchair on Airline

[Snow Shoe]

Recently I have become disabled due to an accident in which I lost one of my legs, and I am now in a wheelchair. My wife and I have had a Disney vacation booked since last year before my accident. We are flying, and I have already contacted the airline for extra assistance. Obviously, many aspects of the vacation have changed. We have been going through many "disabled threads, and web" sites. One particular site suggested that to keep the wheelchair parts from being separated, that I zip tie them all together.

My question is, has anybody had a problem with this happening? Is this really necessary?

 

[SueM in MN]

Short answer - secure anything that is removable or bring it onto the plane with you.
If something comes unattached during the flight, they may not find it in the baggage compartment.

Follow the link in my signature to the disABILITIES FAQs thread or look near the top of this board.
There is a post in that thread about air travel.

This is what we do when we travel with our daughter's wheelchair
- before travel, we check and tighten all screws and bolts

- we gate check her wheelchair so that we can use it to the door of the plane.

- just before getting on the plane, we remove everything that is not bolted or screwed on

- the pieces we remove include her seat back (attached with a sliding lever on each side); headrest (attached with 2 stews that can easily loose); the seat cushion (attached with Velcro); arm rests (secured with a lever type fastener); anti-tippers (attached with a push pin)
The anti-tippers are pretty securely attached, but we had one get bent once and at a replacement cost of $100, I choose to remove them and carry them on.
When she had swing away foot rests, we removed those also

- after the pieces are removed, I fold the wheelchair and fasten seatbelt and foot straps - if you don't, they can get caught In the wheels, which is a real pain.

- I put the smaller pieces into a bag and carry the bag, plus the seat back and cushion onto the plane with me. They go into the overhead bin or closet, if the plane has them.

- the wheelchair pieces do not count toward your carry on allowance

- I do a quick damage check and put the wheelchair back together at the door of the plane, then my husband brings our daughter out.
When we get to the resort, we check all bolts and screws again because they sometimes loosen due to the vibrations of the plane during the flight.

 

[TeresaNJ]

I bring my wheelchair with me whenever we fly to WDW & check it at the gate when getting onto the plane. I've never removed anything, nor have I zip tied anything, and I've never had a problem. My wheelchair is always waiting for me when I get off the plane in Orlando. I've only flown Spirit out of AC though.

 

[SueM in MN]

It's like insurance - many people travel without doing anything and never have an issue. Like insurance, you may not ever need it, but if anything happens, you will be glad you did it.

Some people use zip ties to keep the wheelchair folded - it is easier for the baggage handlers to carry if it is secure and less likely to be damaged. (we've never zip tied DD's closed though)
If you choose not to remove anything, I would recommend marking any parts that could come off with your name and phone number.

I have seen situations multiple times where pieces apparently came off wheelchairs in flight
- one situation, the person got their wheelchair brought to the gate, but the seat cushion was missing. It attached with Velcro and apparently came unattached and separated during the flight. I was waiting for my daughter's wheelchair to be brought up then I put it together, so heard a lot of the conversation. The baggage people went into the baggage compartment a second time to search for it, but had not found it by the time we left.

- another time, they brought up a bunch of miscellaneous wheelchair pieces with my daughter's chair, thinking they were ours. They weren't and they said there were no other wheelchairs on board

- I know of one person whose gel wheelchair cushion got punctured.

Several times, it was raining when we arrived. The frame and wheels of our daughter's wheelchair were wet, but since we had her seat back on cushion on board, at least she didn't have to sit in a wet wheelchair. There were 2 other people on the flight that were not that lucky.

 

[Snow Shoe]

Thank you all for your posts. I have decided to zip tie the things that I can so to keep them in place, and take the seat cushion, and leg supports with me on the plane.

 

[TeresaNJ]

Thank you for the tips, Sue! It just never occurred to me that parts could come off!

 

[mamabunny]

Thank you all for your posts. I have decided to zip tie the things that I can so to keep them in place, and take the seat cushion, and leg supports with me on the plane.

Instead of zip ties, consider using Velcro OneWrap. You can cut it to custom lengths, and it's reusable for your trip home, and your next WDW adventure!

I use it on my personal ECV to hold the battery spacer in place when I fly, and to double stack batteries for park days at WDW.

 

[dismom57]

Totally agree with above, we bring in back and seat cushion. Zip tie brake handles on, and hold the chair folded with the seat belt. All straps are tightened so they don't drag through puddles etc. We have been the ones handled a bunch of parts when a wheel fell off, they had to go back and look twice. We don't however remove wheels just hope lightning does not strike twice.

 

[pfalcioni]

I don't have any experience with wheelchairs, but I am a mechanic so I have a little advice that might help if you're finding you have to re-tighten screws and bolts frequently. There is a product called Loctite which can be used on bolt threads to keep them from loosening up. Use just a drop of Loctite Red on any bolts that do not need to be removed frequently. For bolts that you will need to loosen say once every 6 months or so, use Loctite blue. Neither one should be used on a fastener that you'll be removing with any frequency.

 

[SueM in MN]

One other thing I just remembered because we just travelled .....
When you get to your destination and are putting things back onto the wheelchair, don't panic if some pieces seem to fit tightly or don't want to go on.
The pieces you brought into the plane with you were at 'room temperature' inside the cabin, but the pieces that were in the baggage compartment were at very low temperature during the flight. They may have expanded during the flight and will take a while to get back to their usual size. If something seems to be fitting tightly, waiting about 10-15 minutes should allow it to fit.

 

[pfalcioni]

One other thing I just remembered because we just travelled .....
When you get to your destination and are putting things back onto the wheelchair, don't panic if some pieces seem to fit tightly or don't want to go on.
The pieces you brought into the plane with you were at 'room temperature' inside the cabin, but the pieces that were in the baggage compartment were at very low temperature during the flight. They may have expanded during the flight and will take a while to get back to their usual size. If something seems to be fitting tightly, waiting about 10-15 minutes should allow it to fit.

Metal actually contracts when it's cold, so fit will be sloppy, which definitely can cause problems!

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks - I've got a sick child today and not a lot of sleep.

All I know is that when I try to put the metal headrest post and metal armrest pieces back onto their brackets, the fit is much too tight and they won't even come close to going in. 10 or 15 minutes later, they slide into place easily.
The first thought that came into my head was water expanding when it freezes.

 

[pfalcioni]

When I started working at a machine shop one of the hardest things for me to remember was metal expands with heat, and contracts with cold - the opposite of most other things we deal with in our daily lives!

But you're right, cold things are hard to assemble, especially if the parts are cold and your hands are cold too! The easiest assembly is when an outer part is warm and the inner part is cold - lots of extra clearance.

 

[SueM in MN]

When I started working at a machine shop one of the hardest things for me to remember was metal expands with heat, and contracts with cold - the opposite of most other things we deal with in our daily lives!

But you're right, cold things are hard to assemble, especially if the parts are cold and your hands are cold too! The easiest assembly is when an outer part is warm and the inner part is cold - lots of extra clearance.

Yes - I'm dealing with the opposite. The outer part is cold and the inner part is warm.
Luckily, landing in Orlando, my hands are warm.
But coming back to Minnesota, the jetway can be pretty cold.