Her options for actually boarding the plane are:

- Walk all of the way.

- Walk from the wheelchair at the plane's door to her seat (possibly with crutches).

- Be boarded with an "aisle-chair" (the very narrow wheelchair that can be slid down the plane's aisle with the help of the airport's staff and yours, too.


My advice:

- Coordinate, coordinate, and coordinate with the UA staff at the airport.

- Be early for every step.

- Explain that you will be at the BP reader waiting for "the extra 3 minutes of early boarding". Then plant yourselves right in front of the line so that you can't be forgotten or told some dumb story.

- In the final 35 minutes before landing, find the purser and coordinate your requests with her/him. This gets communicated to the arriving staff when the door opens (aisle-chair, wheelchair, sedan, 1000 sherpas, etc).

- Realize that some stations are great at this and some just can't do any of it right. But if you follow my suggestions, the latter stations work out, too.

- Show sincere appreciation to the employees that help make this work for you two.

- Lastly, be patient. You will certainly be the last 2 off of the plane. This one was tough for me.

Does it show that I've done this with a mobility impaired pax on hundreds of domestic and international flights and even on foreign carriers?

Enjoy the trip!