prncess674 , I most certainly was not referreing to the elderly or frail on crutches or using a cane, but rather the football jock who is hale and hardy who just happened to sprain an ankle. If he can walk well enough to walk around Costco, he can also walk the extra 20 steps that it would take to leave that handicapped space for someone like your father who reallly needs it.

Also, if you have spent a lot of time in parking lots with your father, you may have noticed that their are two types of handicapped spaces--one type is wheelchair accessible and the other type is just a slightly larger space close to the entrance of a building. People who do not require wheelchair access should, IMHO, pick the other type if they are frail and have difficulty walking, or be dropped off at the door as you wisely suggested.

During the years that I was on crutches or required to use a cane, I tried to walk as much as I possibly could so that I could build up strength and I am certainly glad that I did. Of course I was young and quite healthy, except for requiring crutches and or a cane to walk. Frail and elderly people are a whole different ball game.

The people who drive me over the edge are the totally mobile people, often even quite young people and in good shape, who park in the handicapped spaces just because they have a handicapped tag (obvioiusly belonging to someone else) dangling from their rear-view mirror. Sometimes when I hang out in the parking lot with my "security badge" (which I do BTW to protect those spaces for people like your father) I have noticed that about 50 percent of the handicapped spaces are taken by totally well-bodied people.

It is apparent from this statement, Kremmen:

that you have not had the experience of working with a totally dependent, elderly parent who requires the use of a wheelchair. It is simply not possible to transfer a person who has almost no use of their legs from a car seat to a wheelchair in an ordinary car parking space.

The whole ordeal of dressing a severely handicapped person for a trip, getting them into the car, getting them to the places they need to go, getting them out of the car, accomplishing the shopping/errands/appointments they need to do when help is available, because they simply can't do it on their own, then getting them back into the car, getting them to their next destination and out of the car and back into their home, can be totally exhausting for both the caretaker and the handicapped person. Under those circumstances, you don't shop somewhere else or come back later.

I can remember one instance when I, even as a young, more or less healthy person, who could not walk without crutches, actually passed out after the ordeal of simply getting dressed, and transported to my physical therapy session at the hospital.

Waiting 5 minutes at the airport to use the companion care restroom is insignificant by comparison.