Traveling with a disability can pose many difficulties.
It can be tough to transport equipment, get from place to place, and generally get your needs met while on the move. But don’t let these obstacles keep you from traveling with a disability! A few tips can ensure an easier traveling experience.
Quick Tips for Flying with a Disability:
– Over-communicate – You cannot be vocal enough with flight staff about the fact that you have a disability. Let the staff know your needs. Later, before your flight, double check to make sure they understand what you previously communicated to them.
– Fly non-stop – If you can afford it, always fly non-stop. A major plus to a direct flight is that airline staff won’t have to keep moving your equipment (such as a wheelchair). This will ensure that it will not be damaged. Also, non-stop flights save you the stress of having to change planes. So if it’s a matter of saving some money or flying non-stop, try and choose the latter option.
– Care for equipment – Get your equipment, such as your wheelchair, serviced prior to your flight. It also may be a good idea to bring extra equipment parts, just in case something needs to be replaced or fixed.
– Label equipment parts – Are there parts of your disability equipment you will not be able to take on the plane? If so, you will need to check it at the gate. Label these parts with tape, giving instructions on how they should be handled.
One traveler wrote of her wheelchair, “I always label my tilt box with a big piece of tape saying ‘PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE.’ I also label my brakes with a big piece of tape, including up and down arrows indicating which way my brakes go to engage or disengage the chair.”
– Purchase a neck cushion – Neck cushions could be considered cheap life-savers. Why? Because they profoundly increase your comfort level on a long flight. You might also find that a neck cushion enables you to sleep better on a flight.
– Beware of airplane bathrooms – This may sound silly, but it’s true. Airplane bathrooms are required to be disability-accessible, but they are still very small. If you require a caregiver, this could pose a problem. In this case, not using an airline bathroom may be your best bet. Try and use the bathroom before you board to avoid the one on the airplane.
What are your travel tips?
Please leave us a comment and let us know how you stay comfortable on a flight. Other readers might really benefit from your experiences!
Sources:
http://www.aarp.org/travel/travel-tips/info-12-2010/greenberg_wheelchair_travel.html
Image made available by supertin on Flickr through Creative Commons License.
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Let’s Talk About It
What was your worst flying experience? What was your best flying experience? What were the factors that differentiated the two?
Do you think most airline staff members are polite and well-trained in serving customers with disabilities? Why or why not?
A recent flight to Florida was a nightmare. I had a one hour stop-over in Newark New Jersey that required going to a different terminal.
I am 6ft.3 inches tall and weigh 290 lbs. On top of that I have two artificial knee implants and periphrial neoropathy in the right leg. (which means that it can go numb unexpectadly and then I have no feeling in it) Without my cane or walker, I fall down whn this happens.
Also because of my height the business class seats are way to close to the seat ahead of me and I am REQUIRED due to pain to straighten my right leg out into the isle several times during the flight.
When I booked a flight on Air Canada, they wanted an extra $2000.00 for a First Class seat. While I could afford a couple of hundred extra, the $2000 extyra was just a plain rip off to me.
Is there some way that I can reserve a seat with lots of leg room so that my new artificial knees don’t smash into the seat ahead of me???
You could book a seat in the bulk head, usually the first row in the plane. However those seats do give you lots of room for your legs, but the dividers between the seats do not go up, so if you are a heavy person, more than 100 lbs. you are squished like a pancake in the seat. Then the seat table is stored in the seat dividers and that poses another problem. Airlines are not very disability friendly. I also have a knee replacement and have difficulty with comfort on short and long flights. We just endure….
re: do i think airline staff are well-trained with people with disabilities:
Honestly. I can’t say for sure. Probably with disabilities that can be seen, but what about ones that can’t be seen until they happen? Are they equipped with a knowledge with what to do with someone who has severe social anxiety, panic attacks, anxiety in of itself? Unfortuneately, two years ago my disability kept me from seeing my mother in the hospital just hours before she passed away because I was afraid of causing a scene due to anxiety &/or a panic attack. I don’t like to be the “center of attention” when these hit in public so I do avoid travel. When I’m hit they come on suddenly with little or no warning and the best thing for me to do is go someplace where I feel “safe” where people can’t see me, and of course I do have medication that I keep with me, however unfortunately, they are not immediate acting. They can take up to 10 minutes to work, but by then I’m already shaking so bad and most times crying. Panic attacks can be very frightening for the person that has them as you have “no control” to calm yourself down, and the majority of the time, they just have to run the gambit. I would like to think that the airline staff would have some knowledge in this area, and that they would be able to seclude the person in an area until that person has an opprotunity to return to their seat. So, if this issue hasn’t been previously addressed, maybe this is a good time to consider it. Maybe offer a seat that cannot be seen by other travellers. I realize that this then raises a Company Policy issue what with all the “terrorism” acts etc. but maybe they could also be trained in assessing the person, get a “gut feeling” regarding the person, as to whether they feel that this person is a threat or not. I realize that that is sometimes harder than not to do, as you just “never know”. I really sympathicize with Airline Personnel as I think that sometimes all the training in the world does not always cover everything that they could possibly face. I think that as long as they have maybe a Level 2 or more, that they would/should be able to handle a variety of disabilities as they are presented. This website, had I known of it earlier, may have proven very benificial in my ability to see my mother one last time. I’m grateful that you posted it and I will definately keep this in mind for other possible travel.
Thank you also for the opportunity to express my concerns.
Linda
obviously not all disabilities are the same, and not all persons with disabilities have the same experiences with their disability. some disabilities can be particularly travel-unfriendly…esp if it is intestinal/bathroom-related and the person has any vanity issues…try to pack light when an entire suitcase of personal hygeine and extra toilet paper is necessary! and then if you have the misfortune of also being female, ad another suitcase for the “not-so-femine” products for that time of the month also! it is nothing short of a nightmare! and always being asked why you pack so much!! omfg and if you have to layer clothes because of temperature control issues (and i’m not even talking menopause yet!)…the list goes on and on…and the frustration grows and grows…just driving my car looks like i live in it let alone attempting to fly/travel . it sucks! :-#
I have severe arthritis and have a difficult time taking my shoes off and on, so I have no idea how I can do this when being checked by airline personnel while boarding. I have not travelled by plane since these measures were introduced and probably will not do it. I cannot sit down normally. I have to do a free fall into the airplane seat and it is a real struggle getting up at the end of the flight. I had to go once to a different city because my sister was dying…I had a terrible time getting up from the seat and the attendant was quite nasty…and this from an airline that advertises that they are ‘different;. t is not fun living in a world where disabilities’ annoy regular people. And we have all heard of the abuses suffered by disabled people by the customs people where they they check you out to see if you are a terrorist. It is my opinion that they should do behaviour profiling like they do in Israel then people would not suffer the horrible consequences of a broken colostmy bag or pat downs of small children and they would not have let the guy travel from the UK in his shorts, without any papers, to a cold Detroit winter where he intended to set off a bomb. And in this case the father warned authorities that his son was capable and intent on nefarious activities – so they target the disabled and they allow the terrorists to go ahead—something wrong with this picture
Did you know you can take an electric wheelchair or a mobility scooter on the plane?? You just have to have the airline personnel put it in cargo. I just learned this week that I could take my disabiliy mobility scooter with me on the flight. So I am taking it with me on a flight from Calgary to Toronto for a family reunion in August.
Last trip I had to rent a mobility scooter when I got to my destination and rent a Dodge van with the seat that fold down into the floor to transport the scooter.
Last weekend on a trip to Vegas I saw a young man getting off a flight with an electric wheel chair and a disability lift – you know the one to lift a person out of the tub or bed. When I got home I phoned West Jet and asked and they said I could take it along on my next trip. He just made notes in my flight file.
I have a knee replacement and don’t walk long distances well.
This year I came back from a Cruise ship trip that my 90-year-old Mom invited me on, & treated me, too. At Miami Airport we got there on March 17 which was also end of March break which we didn’t realize. Miami airport ran out of wheelchairs to transport elderly and disabled persons. We had to walk miles in the Miami Airport and even though we had reserved wheelchair assistance none was available as they had not expected so much need. We were dead tired, & in pain from this experience and very grumpy also!!!