Originally Posted by jonesing
My wife and I are planning to have her dad come live with us. He's fairly lucid but is confined to a wheelchair--partial leg amputation and a metal replacement knee. After seeing the "Airline" episode where granny was being denied boarding because of her O2, I wanted to find out which airline I should consider for his transport. I read a little about Frontier Airlines and it looks like they have a special department to help make such arrangements? Would First Class be a good idea for this adventure? I think she's going to fly out mid-week (in Sept or Oct) and I'll go out on Friday or Saturday, then the 3 of us will fly back on a Sunday or Monday.
I don't know much about flying with O2, but I do know that all airlines (US) have some way to transport him. The Air Carrier Access Act has a part about that.
We haven't bought his personal wheelchair yet, but I've seen that some airports/airlines now have the transport chairs available that will fit down the plane aisle? When the airport wheelchair agents remove a pax from the plane, what's the limit for them? Will they take the pax all the way to the baggage claim area or just to the edge of the airside? I was thinking that we could get him a chair and have it in the car and when we return, she could get the car from the lot while I get the luggage...
The airlines have aisle chairs and plain old hospital type chairs. The aisle chairs are usually only use from aircraft door to seat and back. Only once did I ride an aisle chair to baggage claim. That was due to mobile lounge at Dulles. IAD. The airline/airport chairs are used from street to gate or vice versa, using a wheelchair pusher. You would need to arrange for it in advance by calling airline more than 48 hours in advance. Be aware the pusher will expect a tip. You could push the chair yourself.
That said, if he has his own wheelchair, he can use that to the gate. They gate check it and he gets it back at gate on arrival.
The guys who get you off the plane are usually different from the guy who pushes the chair out to baggage claim or pick up zone.
Does this helP? If not, let us know.