The Wall Street Journal published an article on Friday about how able-bodied travelers are now ordering wheelchair transportation to their airport gates. “Praise JetWay Jesus” by Natasha Dangoor was the day’s A-Hed. This is a light, fun, interesting article that appears on the front page every day. This one grabbed my interest because I had an experience with airport wheelchairs in July.
Courtesy of Cheapo Air
Now, I say right up front, that I was not ambulatory at the time. I was recovering from ankle surgery and needed an ankle brace and a cane to get around.
The ankle was healing but still not fully functional. I could not even attempt to walk through big airports on my own steam. Using the airlines’ websites I ordered wheelchairs in the three airports we used for the trip.
I learned the advantages of using a wheelchair and joked about doing it all the time. In reality, however, I would never consider using transportation for the disabled if I didn’t need it. Here are pros and cons of using a wheelchair to get through the airport to your gate.
Moving Fast Through Airports
Boston Logan Terminal E
The airport transportation assistants know their stuff. They also know the airport’s layout and how to reach your gate as quickly as possible. I started my trip at Boston Logan’s brand-new international Terminal E. I had never been in it before and had no idea how to get from the door to the gate.
My wheelchair arrived quickly, however, and the transportation assistant solved that problem for me. While others were standing still to read the Departures/Arrivals board, we rolled right past them
Getting to the Head of the Line
The wheelchair automatically goes to the head of the line. Any line. Anywhere. In Frankfurt, the line to clear customs stretched four gates long. (No German efficiency there.) Just looking at it, I knew we would never make our connecting flight. But the wheelchair assistant went to a separate customs kiosk, an agent came right over, and we were past that obstacle in five minutes. Really.
In Vienna, I rolled past a long passport-check line that included several travelers who had been on my Viking River cruise. They knew me and my ankle and waved as I went past. I doubt others appreciated my going to the head of the line, though. Clearing customs is a breeze when you’re in a wheelchair.
Finding Accommodations for the Disabled
In Frankfurt I learned that European countries—and Eastern Europe in particular—offer no accommodation for people who cannot walk. (I never noticed this in previous years when I was power walking through those airports.) They have no escalators. Elevators exist but are often hidden behind stairs and in corners. Signs are not clearly marked or prominently positioned.
When every step hurts, stairs present a daunting obstacle that takes time to use. But your transportation assistant knows when elevators are needed, where they are located, and the best way to get to and from them. You don’t have to worry; they just get you there.
Making Your Connecting Flight
Despite our rapid trip through customs in Frankfurt, we still knew it would be a challenge to make the connecting flight to Bucharest. Despite our speedy assistant’s best efforts, he knew it, too. So he called one of those multi-seat airport taxis and arranged to meet it. We transferred over and he told the driver where we were going and what the timing was.
She booked it out of there on our way, not to the gate as I expected, but to a bus. I think we did 40 mph through that terminal until we reached the elevator (again) that took us down to tarmac level. There we boarded the real bus, which drove out onto the tarmac, past about 20 planes parked there, until it reached ours. We got to the plane and boarded on time. Phew! That would not have happened without the wheelchair and the wonderful transportation assistants.
Boarding the Plane Early
We’ve all been there at the gate when the flight starts boarding and the marginally ambulatory board first. In a wheelchair, you are not mobile. I could walk from the gate onto the plane, so that was not a problem. But early boarding meant we had plenty of time to get settled in our seats and put our backpacks in the overhead before the other passengers started coming on board.
Tipping Big for Great Assistance
The disadvantages of using a wheelchair come down to one thing: tip your assistant big time. These men and women work hard and long. They make your trip through the airport easy and worry free. They speed up your trip and get you where you need to go when you need to be there.
Do. Not. Stiff. Them. With a $5 tip. Go big or stay home.
Wheelchairs for the Able Bodied
According to the @WSJ article, other passengers have figured out these advantages and are ordering wheelchairs when they don’t need them. The idea of fully mobile, healthy young people using a system made for the sick, the injured and the elderly disgusts me. The photos in the article are beyond belief. Have these people no shame?
From Wall-e
They remind me of the passengers at the end of the movie Wall-E who loaf all day and do nothing for themselves. The irony is that all those wheelchairs now slow down boarding.
Airport staff joke about “Jetway Jesus.” They watch as the faux-disabled people using wheelchairs to reach the departure gate show a miraculous recovery when they get up and walk off the plane at the other end, Really. No shame.
There should be a name for these people. And not a nice one.
How the Airports Roll
So, which airports did the best job of wheelchair support? Boston Logan wins hands down. At both ends of the trip, wheelchairs were in place and ready to go when we got arrived. Frankfurt ranks in the middle. The chair was not at the gate and we had to wait, but it did show up. Vienna comes in last. No wheelchair ever arrived.
I hope you never need a wheelchair at an airport but if you do, this information might help you to plan ahead and make the appropriate arrangements. Bon voyage!
