RadioGirl

I booked wheelchair assistance twice in 2007, admittedly not with LX, but I believe Oliver is correct.

This was just prior to a hip replacement and I had trouble walking longer distances or standing in lines for more than a few minutes. I was 30 years younger than the average hip replacement patient, looked (fairly) young and fit, and for short distances could walk quite briskly, so I'm sure I looked like I was cheating the system. But 10 minutes of standing or 150 metres walking and I was in agony.

At some airports (SYD, LAX), the wheelchair assistant took me to the gate area where I just got out of the wheelchair and waited with the other passengers while the wheelchair person went to help someone else. If you got to the gate after me, you would have seen me boarding on my own but having a wheelchair at the other end.

In DEN the young lady pushing the chair was so confused by the airport layout that when she (eventually!) got me to the AA lounge (which was very near my departure gate), I told her I would be okay from there. So you would have seen me going from the lounge to the gate on my own feet but getting collected by a wheelchair in LAX.

The other thing I learned from my experience is that many people who book airport wheelchairs are in that borderline situation of just needing the extra help. People who are absolutely reliant on a wheelchair have their own chair and are able to move themselves, they don't arrange an airport chair and an airport employee to push them.