I'd like to add to this with some recent experience. My mother has similar sounding mobility issues. She can walk slowly with a walking stick and multiple stops to rest. She has difficulty with stairs but can navigate them if absolutely necessary (again slowly). Last year I took my parents to London for a vacation and did not think to get wheelchair assistance since my parents have never done so before. While checking in at LHR on the return, the check in agent saw my mother and recommended wheelchair assistance. His metric was whether she could deplane using the stairs rather than a jet bridge. I replied that she could if necessary and
he said that meant no.
So we got the wheelchair assistance and it was a huge help for her to be wheeled around and then driven in a buggy to the gate. Since then, my parents have made sure to request wheelchair assistance in advance, so I definitely recommend it. Anything that helps make air-travel a slightly easier experience is good.
Originally Posted by
Katja
It's not you - I haven't gone through that sticky in a long time to make sure things are updated. I'll work on that.
DeafFlyer has good advice. I'd add that when you are considering what you can or cannot do, you should be as pessimistic as possible, and keep it very, very simple for the airlines. When you say, for example, "Stairs with hand hold okay up, scary down (but possible)", my advice is to translate that to "Cannot do stairs". No one at the airline is going to keep track of things like "3 steps is ok, but any more isn't". There will be no tests or challenges.
The 2 biggest questions that the special service codes are trying to answer are: can you get to the door of the aircraft unassisted (ie, stairs/ramp/jetway), and once at the door of the aircraft, can you get to your seat unassisted (slowly, if necessary, holding on to the backs of seats as you go) or do they need to break out an aisle chair to transport you from the door of the aircraft to your seat? I'm guessing from what you have said so far that you would benefit from wheelchair service to the aircraft door, but that you can walk to your seat.
You're doing great. Ask the cruise line agent if s/he will be notifying the airlines of your needs or if you should do it yourself. Even if s/he says they will, I'd suggest following up by phone with each airline. Finally, even if no one has contacted the airline, or the airline says they don't have record of a request, request wheelchair assistance as soon as you check in. It happens all the time, and they will scare up a wheelchair (and attendant) for you. In the US, the wheelchair pusher will generally take you to the gate and leave you there. In Europe, there's frequently a lounge/waiting area of some sort for disabled passengers, and they'll dump you off there and promise to come back for you when it's time to board your flight (and they usually do). I haven't been to HKG, but in Japan an airline employee meets you at the aircraft and takes you wherever you want to go.