WildPlumYonder

Will be traveling early next week with a broken ankle in an immobilizing walking boot. I can take the boot off for short periods. I must use either crutches or a wheelchair to get around (although I can manage maybe 10 steps). I don't enjoy the pat down and would rather hobble through security. If I get to security with the crutches, put the crutches and the walking boot through the xray, and hobble through the scanner, do you think I'd lessen the chances of a pat down?

The walking boot contains gel and air inserts - the gel insert would not normally be allowed through security, but since it is part of a medical appliance, would I get a pass on that? (Which brings up a side point - what about gel shoe inserts?)

I'd already canceled a pleasure trip, but this is a necessary trip for a medical consult for my FIL over pretty drastic treatment (which I think is insane for his age - 91). Fortunately it is a direct flight so I don't have to deal with plane transfers.

oldpenny16

Based on my own experience, I would leave the boot on and expect an inspection of it. Hobbling around is a poor idea. You don't need to make a wreck of your leg. I would ask for a wheel chair and let the crutches go through the x-ray.

Likely you will be put at the head of the line and will save some time and a lot of effort.

dj506

Hubby did this not too long ago. When he got to security at ORD, he showed the screener the boot before going through the xray machine. Screener asked him if he was able to take it off. Hubby said that it hurt to take off and on. He left it on and they did an inspection of it while he sat in a chair.

On a side note, he wouldn't use a wheelchair - said he could get around fine on his crutches. By the time we got through check in and security and walked to the gate, he was regretting his decision.

WildPlumYonder

I went through TSA, with the boot on, at a very small airport (MFR, probably less than 500' from the UA counter though security to the jetway for my flight). It was such a short distance through security that I had no problem on crutches. TSA was actually extremely polite, offering me a hand or a shoulder to lean on as I hobbled through and standing by on either side to catch me if I wobbled in the scanner.

UA insisted on gate checking my crutches and bent one of them rather alarmingly. Unfortunately I didn't see this until we were out of the airport. My husband tried to bend it back into shape, and even using two hard surfaces and his knee to push, could not unbend it. Given that a new set was $27, it wasn't a huge loss, but the last thing I need is for a crutch to crumple out from under me and I'd fall again.

Landing at DEN, out at B84, I was very grateful for the wheelchair ride all the way to baggage, I'd never have made it on my own.

I asked the wheelchair attendant if he'd seen "miracle flights" and he said not a day goes by that he doesn't get a call for a wheelchair at an arriving plane and when the plane lands, doesn't have a taker - whoever needed a wheelchair on the other end has declined one at DEN. He also said his most amusing passenger of the week was a tiny elderly lady with a whistle, a cane and a tight connection - he pushed the chair and she used her whistle to alert people they were coming and when a clot of people would not move, used a few judicious cane pokes to clear the way.

flyquiet

I wore a walking boot through 6 flights last week. I was asked to remove and xray the boot in all but one case, where they let me wear it and then they swabbed it with the magical bad-stuff detector pad. I forget which airport. Maybe YYZ? I had pat downs at 5 / 6 airports (the 6th had no whoopee scanner). (I prefer the free massage after a few years of way too many medical scans.)

WildPlumYonder

The trip home, out of DEN, was interesting. The fastest thing was security, which is an astonishing thing to say. I see why people are gaming the system - the regular line was at least 45 minutes, and we were through in less than 10. Again, I hobbled through the scanner and had the boot swabbed.

One the other hand, it was a 45 minute initial wait for the wheelchair (the hobble in from the rental car shuttle drop off was long and painful, too) and DEN has this odd system of "handoffs." You have one attendant through security and on the train, another attendant at the main concourse. Between waiting for attendants and slow progress through the terminal, I'd say it took almost 2 hours. Of course, there was no way I could have used crutches from the drop-off to Gate B88 - just too far.

If I had to do it again, I'd probably add a bit more time - we had zero problems at security, but that could have been much worse if the boot had to be removed or I had to have a pat down. Between returning the rented wheelchair and the rented car, getting the rental car shuttle and going through the airport, enough time had passed that I'd have liked time to eat a meal at the airport, rather than just time for a bagel and tea.

foodgeek

I'll have a boot on my next trip, and I'm trying to decide how to handle it. My boot is theraputic more than protective. At home, the boot comes off for showers, PT, and sleeping. I don't need crutches, and usually only take my cane if I'm walking more than about a tenth of a mile.

I have direct flights SFO->MCO->SFO and don't anticipate needing a wheelchair for distance-related reasons at either airport. Standing in one place gets painful, and a wheelchair through security (vs standing/shuffling for an hour and a half like my last SFO security experience) is likely to be the difference between needing narcotics on a travel day and just needing tylenol. Narcotics disinhibit me, which means I tend to come across as tipsy. I wouldn't want to sit next to someone who seemed "drunk" for five hours, so I'd just as soon spare my seatmate that experience.

Is it reasonable to use a wheelchair through security, then send it away with the attendant and preboard with my cane? Should I just get over my hangup that I'm perfectly capable of walking and sit in the wheelchair down the jetway?

It sounds like I should just play the "boot through security" issue by ear, though. If I'm having a good day, taking it off should be fine, and if I'm already in a lot of pain, I'll ask to keep it on.

Thanks for any advice!

Katja

It's absolutely reasonable. Elderly folks do it all the time. Needing a wheelchair isn't (necessarily) binary. Get over your hangup, don't be a martyr, get the wheelchair service.

foodgeek

Will do!

If I can manage not to judge other people who need wheelchairs (temporarily or not), you'd think I could manage not to judge myself for the same thing.

Katja

That's the spirit!

Good luck with your trip.