The notion that one would remotely consider putting another person through the type of journey which OP contemplates, let alone someone one purports to love because the wheelchair was rickety and he would have been required to mingle with the subhumans in J makes me doubt just how serious this is.
Wheelchairs are for people who need wheelchairs. Rich, well-off, and poor alike. In this instance, it would appear that in order to provide some form of expedited service to OP's father, some number of J passengers who required assistance were left to fend for themselves.