Unethical Life Hack: Lying to Board More Quickly
Meg Butler August 07, 2018
Well this isn’t one of our prouder moments…
According to a CBS report we spotted on View From the Wing, passengers have been faking injuries and disabilities to get access to a wheelchair, and to a wheelchair escort who will speed them through on an express track to their gate and maybe even get them priority boarding.
While no one has admitted guilt, a flight attendant on the news report said, “We often find as flight crew that we have performed miracles on flights. And people are able to walk off the flight who were not able to walk on.”
Is it possible that some passengers find themselves too injured to walk to the plane, but feel better on their way off? Gary Leff says that happened to him when he fractured a bone in his foot while traveling.
He could technically walk, but didn’t want to exacerbate the injury by truing to make an Atlanta connection from the end of the T concourse to the opposite end of B. So he took a wheelchair there and dismissed (but still tipped) the wheelchair attendant who met him when he landed and felt like he could continue his journey without aid.
But the way the news story’s flight attendant used the word “often,” I suspect that she’s seen more than a reasonable amount of people use thus unethical life hack for an easier way to the plane only to abandon it when they land and there’s nothing more to gain.
H/T: View From the Wing, Photo: Wikimedia Commons
I fully agree with the term miracle flights. We have seen miracles many time traveling from FLL post cruise. We saw one woman arrive in a wheelchair to the gate, get up and RUN to the bathroom. She didn't even have to board before she was cured! Needless to say, there was a long line of wheelchairs waiting to board. My husband needs a wheelchair to get to the gate because of MS. He walks down the jet port to enter the plane with his walker, gate checked. He is trying to maintain his independence, but needs a bit of help for distance. I am disgusted at this brazen behavior.
Yes, the new norm is for people to do anything ethical or unethical to get what they want. As treatment of individuals who are flying gets worse (rude agents, pushing and shoving, delays and lack of common courtesy) people feel entitled to do anything that gives them better service. In today's world, honesty is for "chumps" and dishonesty will get one ahead. Dishonesty is rampant in all aspects of our life thus why should flying/travel be any different? The problem is that issues from individuals having to have "service turtles" to those who fake an injury to get whisked by the rest of us, these things will continue. Airlines/airports try to be as helpful as possible but my moral compass goes on the side of being thankful that I can run the entire length of every terminal at ORD and most every airport because I am healthy (distance runner) and strong. To those that truly need assistance, I hope you are able to receive it. To those who fake it, karma is a bitch!
It has not always been this way so something has changed? Whether it is scammers or something else, it does seem to be completely out of control and it is only hurting the ones really needing this service. I arrived back at DFW on July 5 and the line of wheel chairs at immigration was staggering. Add in the family members with them and my observation was the standard line might have been quicker. What I don't like is that personally I am rapidly becoming desensitized to the disabled because of the abuses at airports, parking lots, stores, or wherever. I guess at some point the truly disabled will speak up loudly and try to find a solution.
So just get rid of the incentive to cheat. Perhaps if they go on in a wheelchair, they should go off on a wheelchair - the airlines could require this just for liability reasons. Or if you prebaord them first because they need extra time, then they should exit last because they need extra time then too, and they shouldn’t want to hold everyone else up. Even the legitimate people wouldn’t feel like they were being judged then.
This is a bit ridiculous as you do NOT need to be in a wheelchair to preboard