Re: Airplanes and wheelchairs

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Depending on the airline, your wheelchair can be kept inside the

airplane cabin. In the Spring 2008 ComMenT newsletter it mentions

Brittish Airways does this. Here's a few sites that may be able to

offer you more help:

https://www.virginholidays.co.uk/info/important/disabled_customers/cus

tomer_care/

http://www.access-travel.co.uk/

http://www.assistedholidays.com/

Maybe call the airline you will be flying on and make arrangements

for your wheelchair to be on board with you. Or, if you are working

with a specific travel agent, ask your agent to call regarding your

needs.

And here's a site about Puerto Rico and Disabilities

http://www.gotopuertorico.com/traveler-disabilities.php

The Americans with Disabilities Act is enforced as strictly in Puerto

Rico as it is on the U.S. mainland-in fact, a telling example of the

act's enforcement can be found in Ponce, where the sightseeing

trolleys are equipped with ramps and extra balustrades to accommodate

travelers with disabilities. Unfortunately, hotels rarely give much

publicity to the facilities they offer persons with disabilities, so

it's always wise to contact the hotel directly, in advance, if you

need special facilities.

You can obtain a free copy of Air Transportation of Handicapped

Persons, published by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Write

for Free Advisory Circular No. AC12032, Distribution Unit, U.S.

Department of Transportation, Publications Division, 3341Q 75 Ave.,

Landover, MD 20785 (tel. 301/322-4961; fax 301/386-5394). No phone

requests are accepted, but you can write for a copy of the

publication or download it for free at http://isddc.dot.gov.

The U.S. National Park Service offers a Golden Access Passport that

gives free lifetime entrance to U.S. national parks, including those

in Puerto Rico, for persons who are blind or permanently disabled,

regardless of age. You can pick up a Golden Access Passport at any

NPS entrance fee area by showing proof of medically determined

disability and eligibility for receiving benefits under federal law.

Besides free entry, the Golden Access Passport also offers a 50%

discount on federal-use fees charged for such facilities as camping,

swimming, parking, boat launching, and tours. For more information,

go to http://www.nps.gov/fees_passes.htm or call tel. 888-GO-PARKS.

I hope you have a wonderful vacation!

Gretchen

[Guest guest]

,

My husband has an electric scooter, and we have found that checking

it as luggage usually leads to disaster because it gets treated too roughly. It

comes apart in smaller, lighter, pieces but we have only had it in the airplane

cabin one time out of probably 20+. The best we can do, and it is good enough,

is for him to drive it up to the gate, where I either take it apart or collapse

it; then they put it underneath in the hold and give it back to him at the next

gate. It is important that it has a dry cell battery.

American and Lufthansa made him check it and had expensive repair bills two or

three times the value of his ticket. Egypt Air also broke it. We get as

insistent as possible that it not be checked. I finally gave up on Lufthansa

because it was the last leg of our journey, and it took 6 weeks for the repair

because of parts problems.

From Experience: don't let them check it as luggage and don't let them drive it.

All that said, I should have asked if your wheelchair was electric? My friend,

whose husband had a stroke, found a wheelchair that was very light and narrow

for taking up aisles.

Elinor