Thought it would be worthwhile relating our experiences here.

Had an award trip in F with my wife SYD-SIN-FRA-LHR then LHR-LIS then LIS-FRA-BKK-SYD.

On the outbound, the chair had a gate check tag to SIN. We left it at the door of the aircraft and walked to the seat.

At SIN, the connection was tight (we arrived late) and were connecting to LH. Initially they told us the chair wasn't there, so we took their advice and were pushed to the LH flight. After a few walkie talkie calls, the chair had been found and would be on the flight to FRA.

At FRA, it was the same story. Chair isn't there, but when asking hte purser on the FRA-LHR flight they confirmed it had been loaded.

At LHR, still no sign of the chair gate side. Apparently we need to wait at the oversize baggage claim, so are pushed on the airport chair over there. After an hour, we go to lost baggage and .......they see it was delayed in SIN and will arrive in about 6hrs. We asked for it to be delivered to the hotel. Meanwhile I go pick up the rental car, and come back to pick up luggage / wife (maybe I should reverse the order?).

LHR-LIS on TP worked perfectly (although there are stairs off the aircraft at LIS). Chair is waiting at the bottom of the stairs and we are taken by a private bus over to the terminal. Good show Air Portugal.

The return we had the same experience as the outbound. Although we gate checked the chair, LH put a baggage tag in addition to the gate check tag. This gave me some encouragement that even if we didnt see it at the intermediate stops, it was at least tagged to the final destination. It did show at FRA and the FRA staff also provided a golf buggy and drove us to the F lounge (they refused to take us to the F terminal!)

BKK there was no sign of the chair and a pusher that didn't seem to speak English. Once in the F lounge, we were assured that it would be trasnferred to the TG flight to SYD. Sure enough, it did show at the oversize baggage belt in SYD, and we were helped with the luggage out to the taxi rank for the trip home.

So....interlining a gate checked wheelchair seems to be very hit/miss. Wheelchair not showing in LHR could have been a real problem, but at least we could still get to the hotel room by asking for a room close to the elevators etc.

Has anyone else got any tips on how to ensure that a wheelchair is actually delivered to the gate, or is it best to just check it all the way? Seeing it at each stop means that there is the chance to check all the bits are still there, but seems more trouble than its worth.