POatParker

DFW has used modified golf carts at DFW to move handicapped people and others within the terminals. The golf carts could seat 6 to 8 people and still have space for luggage on a platform in back. Last month AA went to a new vehicle. Picture a skake board style vehicle. The wheels are literally 12" apart on the front and back. I do not know how stable they are. Up to 6 people (3 per side), sit back to back, facing sideways to the direction of travel. The is NO place for luggage. NO room for service animals. NO place of wheelchairs, or other handicapped equipment. Thus, the people who really need to ride, cannot! The sitting area is literally about 9" in depth. I found myself sliding off the seat (I am not over weight, and I am an average build.) There are seat belts to hold people on. I have seen large over weight people riding on these new transports with terrified looks on their faces, with death grips trying NOT to fall off. I was told by a driver that last week a lady DID fall off, and spit her head open. She was ambulanced to the hospital. The drivers must stand at the back of this skate board all day while driving. This is fatiguing, making it much harder for them to concentrate, and to determine depth perception vs. sitting in the front of a golf cart. The safety of the skate board passengers and the travelers in the terminals have all been reduced. I hope this is not yet the practice at all AA hubs. I was told the decision to use these instead of the golf carts, came from AA management.
Unfortunately, this is not a surprising path chosen by the worst CEO in the airline business. Doug Parker is the most un-customer-centric CEO in the business! Here is partial list of his decisions to screw his customers: Keeping the S-80's another 5 years! Raising the set rakes in order to cram in another row of seats! Reducing the bathroom sizes from mini to micro! Increasing the segments for EP and reducing the system wide upgrades by half! Not to mention charging for every little thing! It is no wonder people are lashing out on planes these days! They are pressure cookers! People are NOT animals. Parker should NOT be treating them as such! I vote for NO CONFIDENCE in Parker as CEO. He is destroying AA. The sooner he is kicked out, the better for everyone!

Uncle Nonny

Don't use them, don't care. Almost got run over by one @PHL today and another just parked out in the middle of no man's land.

lobo411

We need pix

aztimm

Were the carts provided by AA or by the airport?

Fanjet

Yeah. This is the kind of thing Doug Parker spends most of his focus on as CEO. What type of electric carts the airports are using to shuffle around people with disabilities. Because we all know the station managers already have too much on their plates to deal with.

longtimereader firstimeposter

I walked between A and C yesterday and there were tons of CK golf carts. I don’t think this is true.

Antarius

I believe they are from the airport. I have seen these. They look like a hybrid between pallet jacks, forklifts and a golf cart. Passengers sit back to back facing outwards while the driver stands behind and drives the cart like a forklift.

WAAAAY smaller than the normal golf carts and therefore way easier to get around without grinding everything to a halt.

Independent of the facts, the OP is just being whiny. "keeping the S80 for another 5 years"... the same person will ..... and moan when they fly on another airplane about being crammed, no legroom etc. Sure, the S80s aren't sexy and look dated, but other than no 110V plug power, how are they worse than LUS planes (which have NO power) and LAA 738s again?

FAA1996

Saw them at DFW on Monday. Never ridden on one but as a pedestrian find these better than the golf carts. Smaller footprint means uses less space.

chrisdenver1

I would love to see these carts disappear. CLT is much better without them and they only increased congestion. Plus "Dougie" saved trillions(maybe zillions???) of dollars by substituting unsalted butter on flights. Seriously, I'd rather yield to a wheelchair than an empty cart.

C17PSGR

I've seen those in a couple of airports around the country. Looks like they're a lot easier to maneuver around an airport than the old ones. Not sure if there is a difference in passenger comfort.

I did notice today at the ORD AC that there were a few Concierge Key golf carts parked out front. Looked like the seating in there was better than the seating used to transport disabled pax between gates.

DCP2016

Yeah you just lost all credibility with that statement. Most of us including flyers who don't know a 737 from a 757 would agree that the Super 80's are more comfortable than most of AA's current and future narrowbody fleet.

3Cforme

DTW doesn't use carts, either, but it handles far fewer passengers than DFW.

I don't really believe Parker signed off on a change for the carts at DFW. The anger is misplaced.

JDiver

The modified golf carts were certainly in use last month when we were there, both by Premium Services and for disabled passengers. Both marked “American Airlines”. DFW has sufficiently wide concourse corridors for these, but I can see the advantage of slimmer transport.

POatParker

I was told by the driver of one, that they were provided by AA.

It is absolutely true! I fly through DFW every week! CK's probably still get the golf carts! Hadicaps get the death traps!

If you have been following other threads on Flyer Talk, you would know they the S80's are being revamped with more seats for five more years of service.

Agreed, until one runs into you, because the driver is fatigued or someone falls off onto you! (Which has already happened at DFW)

lowfareair

I've never heard of that, but that should be simple enough for you to provide a link to the thread it's mentioned in.

AA filed an 8-K with the SEC 2 days ago with the latest fleet numbers through 2020. According to that, S80s will be gone by the end of 2019. If you think that is not true and AA is actually planning to hold on to the frames for another 5 years, their largest investors would probably be interested to know that AA is filing false statements with the SEC.