Adelaide_Matthew

Apologies for a slightly stale post...

I have to make a terrible admission - I've never tipped an airport pusher in my life.

I'm not usually a bad tipper - coming from Australia it is a strange thing to get used to (outside of the restaurant context) but I like to think I do pretty well tipping in North America (and, for that matter, Australia). But it had never occurred to me that wheelchair pushers at airports should be tipped.

In Australia, airline staff do the pushing - no need to tip, and pretty good service usually.

That pushers are low-paid contractors (not airline staff as in Australia, or paramedics as in some European destinations) goes some way to explaining why the pushing service in the US is usually so ordinary by comparison (with some notable exceptions).

(At the risk of seeming to be insensitive to Americans, which I am not, I should note that the frankly extraordinary number of people who ask for wheelchair assistance no doubt encourages airlines to offload this task to the lowest bidder. I have witnessed this phenomenon in no other country in the world.)

So, in future - pusher tipping from me!

Katja

Welcome to FlyerTalk, Adelaide_Matthew! Yes, while we in the US may complain about inadequacies in the implementation of the Americans with Disablities Act and the Air Carrier Access Act, the existence of these pieces of legislation has enabled more disabled people than ever before to participate fully in society. Disabled people in many other countries are not as fortunate.

Heidelberg Barbie

I am reading... and learning.

I love FT for the education one can receive. It never occurred to me to tip but these stories, they give me this education.

I assume that I cannot be the pusher of my man's wheel chair as it would seem these chairs need to be returned back into service once the destination is reached?

DeafFlyer

I believe that you can push the wheelchair yourself if you want to. I'm not sure, though, since I always bring my own chair.

flyingfran

If you use a wheelchair that belongs to the airport at JFK, no one other than a "qualified" wheelchair pusher may push your chair. It is a liability issue, and they never change this policy. The person pushing your wheelchair will take you wherever you want to go, and you can call them after you have eaten a meal and they will return for you. They were exceptionally helpful to me, but they absolutely would not permit my husband to touch my chair.

As for tips, I start putting dollar bills in a bowl in my bedroom when I return from a trip. Generally there are enough dollars in that bowl so that I have plenty of "tip money" for my next trip. If not, however, I stop at the bank at get $25 one dollar bills. However, If I save them from my general daily change, it seems less painful.

RadioGirl

Welcome Adelaide_Matthew. I struggled with this last year when I used wheelchair assistance for two int'l trips from Sydney. Having grown up in the USA (and having read this board, mostly about US airports), I was willing to tip.

In Australia it seemed inappropriate, as you concluded. (One time the check-in agent said, "Just have a seat there" and a few minutes later, she had no line, so she came out from behind the desk and took me through herself! )

In the USA tipping is expected, as others have stated.

But other places are hard to gauge. When I flew SYD-SIN-FRA-GVA-LHR-BKK-SYD, I got enough small bills in the right currencies, but each situation was different. In SIN, a surly teenager pushed me up the airbridge, around the corner and back into the gate lounge (a total of 90 seconds and 50 feet), then without a word went to the other side of the room and fiddled with his mobile phone; he came back and pushed me down the airbridge to board. Not one word, not a smile, nothing. Sorry, no tip for you. In FRA, it seemed to be airport staff but they were incredibly rude, and I was handed off to several different people like freight. No tip. In Geneva I tipped the guy who took me from the plane to the taxi but he seemed so embarrassed and reluctant that I decided not to tip when I flew out. In LHR, one guy took me from the plane to the inter-terminal bus and disappeared, but the guy who took me from the bus to the BA lounge and then came and took me to the plane was so chatty and helpful that I tipped him both times. He said it wasn't necessary but he didn't seem offended. In BKK, someone took me (a long way) to the Qantas Club and someone else took me all the way back; I tipped both times, although they seemed a little embarrassed.

I'm not saying this was "the right way". I was just trying to do the right thing, but found it complicated by different employment models (airline staff vs contractors), cultural sensitivities (someone said that it's an insult in some Asian countries), and the different attitudes of the people involved. The other lesson is that even at a transfer airport, you may have 2, 3, or four "pushers" so plan accordingly.

flyingfran

This observation has bothered me since I first read it. I feel as if the poster believes that people in the US overuse the services of wheelchairs in airports. As Katje observed, in most countries you do not see many disabled people because the infrastructure of their society makes it almost impossible for them to travel.

I have been in Istanbul for the past month. It is a city of 16 million people. I have seen two people in wheelchairs since I arrived. The broken sidewalks, the high curbs, the cobblestone streets, the completely impossible situation of getting on a bus and the general lack of access to virtually everywhere makes a person who requires a wheelchair virtually imprisoned in her home.

To their credit, the Turkish people are quick to assist a person in a wheelchair, quickly give up a seat on public transportation to a person with a cane, crutches or a walker and generally help to make movement possible. However, every disabled person is basically dependent upon the kindness of strangers.

I never appreciate the equal opportunities I have in the US quite so much as when I am forced to live without them in a foreign country.

Yes, you see many more people in the US using wheelchairs. It does not mean that their are more disabled people in the US, or that people in the US overuse wheelchairs. It simply means that more of us with disabilities have the opportunity, provided by legislation, to participate more fully in society than do similarly disabled people in other countries.

oklAAhoma

Very well said. That comment troubled me, too, but I had been struggling to pen an appropriate response.

jeffrocowboy

I am intrigued by responses to Adelaide_Matthew.

Please bear in mind Matthew and I are posting from countries where people with disabilities have full and equal rights, and where it is very easy to travel with a mobility disability.

From my perspective I have to go along with him. On my last trip I saw so many wheelchairs waiting for one flight it was amazing.

It did get me wondering, do you have to have a 'disability' to request a chair, or can anyone who does not feel like walking can get one. In other words what is the threshold for being able to get a chair?

flyingfran

As a person who is forced to depend upon a wheelchair although I have no visible disabilities it is always painful to think that anyone would believe I would deliberately request a wheelchair simply because I did not want to walk.

I would so love to walk. I would like to leisurely stroll to my next gate. I would like to stop and shop in the smart stores in the terminal. I would like to take my time in the ladies room to repair my hair and apply fresh lipstick. I would like to stop and have a bite to eat or even a glass of soda.

There are thousands of things we sacrifice when we become wheelchair dependent, but of course, they are all related to our own personal freedom. I understand that some other countries provide for their disabled citizens, but I must state that in this respect, I believe the US is well ahead of the game. Every barrier that can be removed is removed, and this gives wheelchair bound individuals more incentives to travel because they know that wherever they go they will not have barriers of curbs, unfriendly sidewalks, inadequate trunk space for a wheelchair, or even a hotel room that is not easily managed. I do not have statistics to support my conclusions, but I truly feel that were you to study disabled people around the world, you would discover that more disabled people in the US are more mobile and more well traveled than any other nation.

In answer to your direct question, no. Airlines have no "threshold" to "measure" a disability to determine if it "qualifies" for wheelchair assistance. Frankly, I am a little hurt that anyone would even consider such a concept let alone write it.

Thank about what you are saying for just a minute. Would you truly want to give up the freedom of walking where ever you wished in order to be the very last passenger to leave the plane, and depend on less than reliable people to push you to the occasional wrong gate? Would you want to give up the freedom to use the restroom, eat or drink something or just stop and shop? After a long leg confining experience in a plane would not you welcome the opportunity to stretch and walk a little bit? And would you be willing to pay $5 to $10 dollars for the experience of missing all these opportunities?

Speaking just for myself, I would pay a huge, huge sum of money to have the freedom of mobility. I do not consider riding in a wheelchair to be easier than walking. I have also been on a couple of planes where wheelchairs are waiting in a row. Often that is when my destination is in a location favored by more elderly passengers such as Florida and Arizona. Once there were wheelchairs because their was a VFW convention in the city. I certainly did not begrudge veterans of WW II the use of a wheelchair.

I do not question the legitimacy of anyone who claims a disability. I never have. My father was disabled at an early age, and I learned early on in life that it is impossible to measure the pain of another person. When I could walk I would see people in wheelchairs and feel sorry for them and happy for myself because I could still move from place to place. Perhaps that was because I knew that due to genetic factors a wheelchair was going to be in my own future. I would, however, like to think that I have compassion for other people in my society.

Do people request a wheelchair transfer to avoid walking? That question is simply preposterous and offensive to every one of us who needs the wheelchair in order to manage airline travel.

oklAAhoma

And the only reason that occurred to you for seeing multiple chairs was that people who didn't really need the chairs had requested them anyway? Incredible.

I'm not in your position, so I know I can't completely understand how hurtful such a comment must be, but please know that I (and I am sure many others) also find that attitude appalling.

I would like to add to your comments, but you have stated everything so well and so clearly that I will simply add my +1.

flyingwheels

Ehm, almost afraid to say this, but I use a wheelchair 24/7 and I'm not offended by Matthew nor Jeff. I'm very OK with expressing ones feelings and opinions, but would also like it when people do not put words in the others mouths. Freedom of speech, and stuff like that.

While they might not have expressed my opinion nor the way I'ld voice it / think it's best addressed at boards like this, neither might Frans. So many people, so many opinions. I'ld like to keep mine, if no one minds.

DeafFlyer

I'm not offended either. In fact, I understand the feeling of arriving at a gate and seeing 30 wheelchairs, with people in them, waiting to be pre-boarded, and I was the only one who couldn't walk to my seat. It is kind of weird. However, I did want to point out that the most recent time this happened to me, was in Europe, not the US.

RadioGirl

Just thinking out loud, as it were,

There are two questions here, and they're hard to separate. One question is "do people think I requested this wheelchair just because I didn't want to walk?" and I understand your reaction. I worried about the same thing and several people, including you, reassured me not to worry about what people thought. I was (and am) very grateful for your advice. I also strongly agree with your comments about not implementing a "threshold" to determine who can use a wheelchair.

But the other subtly different question is "are there ever people who request a wheelchair just because they don't want to walk?" The thing is, before I used wheelchair assistance, I didn't think about any of the negative aspects that you listed. (I've since experienced them all!) Once you stop to think about it, of course it's obvious that having someone else push you around limits your choices and can be very frustrating, but most people don't see that part of it. It's just one of the many things about disability that people don't think about.

What I did think, when I arrived at my home airport after a 16 hour day where I'd spent too much time standing on concrete floors in heels, when the flight would arrive at the most distant gate and I'd look at the corridor converging to a point on the horizon as I lifted my heavy computer bag, was "I don't think I can walk another step." Okay, mostly I wanted a ride on the little red electric cart , but I would have settled for a wheelchair. (I never did. I staggered on. Until the diagnosis on my hip gave me a reason to ask for a wheelchair.)

Was that "don't want to walk" or "too tired to walk"? At what point does it become "unable to walk"? Even when I had bad arthritis, I soldiered on in domestic airports because I didn't want to be a nuisance. I reasoned that because I could walk (slowly, and in pain), I shouldn't ask for help. When I started to consider int'l airports, the need to not have pain overtook the need to not be a nuisance.

But that's just me. There are lots of people in this world who don't mind being a nuisance. So I can imagine that some of them, if they find they're tired and their feet hurt at the end of a long day, might request a wheelchair for their next trip.

And I also imagine that, after they experience the frustrations that you have described so eloquently, they probably don't do it again.

So as long as there are no thresholds for requesting a wheelchair (and again, I agree that there shouldn't be), the possibility remains that (a) some people who don't really need them will use them and (b) there will be a perception that some people using them don't really need them.

Which doesn't really address whether there are more wheelchairs at airports in the US than elsewhere, and if so, why.

jeffrocowboy

Sorry if my comments have offended anyone. I may have not worded my post carefully enough.

Firstly, I do not question anyone's right to a wheelchair if they have a disability or imapairment.

However, I was commenting on Matthew's observation about the large number of wheelchair users in the US that he had observed.

An argument was mounted that people with disabilities are empowered to fly due to US legislation.

My point was that other countries have similar, including New Zealand (where discrimiantion in the provision of goods and services on the grounds of disability has been outlawed since 1984). I recognise in many countries this does not exist.

So despite laws in Australia and NZ, I have not noticed wheelchair to the level I have seen in the US.

So the question remains: why is it so more noticeable?

For me the existence of laws would be a factor, but is it the only factor?
That was what I was trying to explore whe I raised the issue of 'threshold'. if the threshold is low, then that might potentialy explain some of it as well.

Let me state again, I do not question anyone's right to a wheelchair if they have a disability or imapairment.