Originally Posted by wrp96

For the make wheelchairs board last crew, it doesn't work for several reasons:

1) if the person needs the aisle chair, then as the person using the aisle chair you deserve to not have to suffer the indignity of having a plane load watch you. For the persons pushing the aisle chair, having the plane already boarded makes it harder with the already limited space now filled with peoples elbows, feet etc

2) even if you aren't using the aisle chair, again the more people are on the plane the harder it is to maneuver down the aisle - making the progress even slower - sure let's slow down boarding even more.

3) many disabled will be traveling with medical devices of some kind, making them board last means there may not be any overhead space left to store those required medical devices

Don't punish those that need assistance because some people are selfish.

As someone who does use the service, I do wish that more people understood it's not a way to jump to the front of the line. In fact, it adds extra time to almost every step of my airport experience. And it is frustrating not being in control of when and where I go somewhere. Last Thursday morning for example, I arrived at check in at 4:30am for a 6:30am flight. No bags to check. Just needed wheelchair assistance to the gate. It took over 1.5 hours for assistance to come - I was the very last person to board the plane and at that point they were force checking all carry ons. While I was waiting a few other people came waiting needing assistance, but they gave up waiting out of fear of missing their flights - not because they no longer needed assistance, but they could limp along and put up with the pain. Not a miracle cure, just a need to make their flight.