TSA: Dude, Where’s My Wheelchair?

This past week, I participated in the National Council on Independent Living Annual Conference, in Washington DC. 

Living in Atlanta, I had to book a flight to get to DC. The only difference with how I do that, as a wheelchair user is, I indicate that I need assistance. Here is what I’m referring to:

One-on-one security check – My wheelchair gets thoroughly checked too. So I request assistance with my carry-on items (backpack, wallet, phone, etc.) Even if I am flying with someone, I always ask for help from an employee, to avoid the assumption of suspicious activity;

Pre-Boarding Pass – Along with whoever is flying with me, I board before other passengers because it takes so many additional people and things to get me situated;

An aisle chair to board the plane – My power wheelchair is a very delicate, 300-pound piece of machinery that is far too wide for me to drive onto the plane to transfer into a passenger seat. An aisle chair is what a person who cannot walk the distance from their wheelchair to plane seat would use. It’s a manual wheelchair narrow enough for the aisles;

Me being two-man transferred.

Two-man lift/full transfer – I am not as delicate or heavy as my chair, but I still require trained help from airline employees to go from one seat to the other;

Check-in/claim tags – While I sit in the airplane seat, my chair gets loaded into cargo. To get past the gates, the wheelchair gets claim/identification tags hung on it. But I ask that I be able to leave and meet my chair as closely to the aircraft as possible... And that means no farther than the plane’s door.

Something I highly recommended for people who fly with their medical equipment is to take before and after photos of the items. If anything is damaged in any way, the airline is responsible for taking care of it!