Originally Posted by
rove312
My 80-year-old mother is booked BOS-PHL-FCO; the time at PHL is 5.14-6.25 p.m. This is on a friend's AA miles. Within a day of ticketing, I urged her to see if she could get a longer connection; what she got was a promise of wheelchair assistance.
I suspect you want to ask for an electric cart, not wheelchair assist (unless she really does need a wheelchair); wheelchair assist would mean she stays on the aircraft until all the more mobile passengers are off and they'll bring a wheelchair to her. If she does need a wheelchair, she needs a different flight BOS-PHL and I'd be pressuring AA to find an earlier flight for the award ticket using the disability as the reason if they want to charge fees. The BOS-PHL flight will probably arrive at terminal B or C, and assuming no delays 71 minutes is fine to get from B/C to A where the international flight leave from for a person without mobility concerns, but if she does need a wheelchair she'll be last off the flight into PHL and they'll want her to be one of the first on to the PHL-FCO aircraft. And international flight start boarding early.
I don't see them holding a flight for a single passenger, wheelchair or not.