flyingfran

I stopped taking my scooter on airline flights because it was very large and difficult to transport, not only on the plane, but while we were at our destination as well.

We keep a wheelchair at the home of each of our children for my visits, and I try to rent a scooter when we are traveling and I need one. This is not working as well for us as it has previously. I really need to have my scooter with me while we are traveling. It is difficult to find places that rent scooters, and often I am not in large cities where I can find these services anyway.

I am looking at a very small scooter designed for people who travel. I have questions about how the airlines would manage the scooter. When I flew many years ago with my huge scooter, we checked it with our luggage. I used the airline wheelchair service, and we picked up the scooter at baggage claims.

On one occasion I took the scooter to the plane and it was gate checked, but that seemed to cause lots of problems and made people unhappy. My husband would not let me do that again.

It seems to me that we did not pay any extra luggage charge for the scooter. I think that the entire scooter weighed about 140 pounds, and I know I would remember if we had paid a huge fee to check it.

Does anyone regularly travel with a scooter? Do you check it with luggage or gate check it? With luggage restrictions so tight does anyone know if we have to pay to check the scooter. I think that the smallest unit I can find weighs 76 pounds, which would make it over the 70 pound maximum I am allowed with Delta as a Medallion member.

My husband is afraid that the airlines might take it apart. It comes apart into five pieces. He fears that part of it might be lost so he wants to have a special canvas bag made to hold all of it when it has been disassembled. Does anyone think this is necessary?

We are planning a trip on Saturday. My husband wants me to purchase a scooter rather than rent one at our destination. He claims we could have purchased two for the amount we have spent renting them at our destination. He is probably correct. I am just not sure if we can successfully take it with us, or if we can even afford to take it with us.

I would appreciate hearing from anyone with experience.

GoingAway

Wirelessly posted (goingaway's phone: BlackBerry8900/4.6.1.114 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

I do not know about being charged, but it is TSA who would worry be - I agree with your husband abouit the bag, but might check it at the door of the plane not before to ensure it arrives at my destination. Check the type of battery it uses and be sure there is no issue with having it on board just to be covered

ncvet61

I've not traveled with a scooter and I've not traveled since the new baggage charges, so I can't help there. I've seen the folding scooters for travelers which eliminates the need for the airline to "take it apart". One example http://www.1800wheelchair.com/asp/vi...ges.asp?rows=3. Another one that I've seen disabled veterans use actually folds upright like a vacuum cleaner and you can roll it on the wheels like a suitcase. The battery also snaps out (inside a sealed compartment) to make it lighter. I don't know the make or model and I've searched the web to no avail. Wish I could be of more help.

DWNewman

My wife regularly travels with a Drive Daytona 3 wheel scooter (about 130 pounds). It has been all over the world with us, even to Beijing China.
The airlines have been very good with it, and as of yet, have only removed the seat to be able to fold the steering handle down. They do not charge for it as luggage, because of the Accessibility rulings in their carriage contracts. We normally gate check, and if the connection is short, request that it be delivered to the aircraft door at the final destination, instead of at each connection. You may need it at a connecting airport tho. Sometimes we are asked to hold back, and exit the aircraft last, to give the ground crew a chance to bring it up. Many airports have elevators that allow the ground crew to bring it up quickly, but I have seen some crews carrying it up the stairway right outside the gate. TSA "hand" checks it and usually swabs it for explosives, but have not given us any grief over it. I do usually double check our flights, and try to route us onto some of the larger aircraft, as they usually won't even remove the seat on the larger ones.

Feel free to ask if you have any other questions.

flyingfran

I have purchased a Pride Go Go Elite Traveller Plus. With the batteries it weighs 114 pounds. I called our airline and they confirmed that we could check it either with luggage or at the gate, and there is no charge for the scooter.

If you gate check do you still get preferential treatment moving through TSA or do you stand in line with regular passengers who do not require extra screening? I have prosthetic implants and always require a pat down so the ability to move more quickly through the TSA process is important to me.

Also, when you have traveled outside of the US, how much difficulty has your wife had in using the scooter? We spend part of each year in Turkey. I am debating whether to attempt to take the scooter there; although it would be so nice to have it. The curbs are so high and the cobblestone streets so rough that I do not know if it would be more helpful than nuisance.

I have seen a few electric wheelchairs in Istanbul, but I have never seen an electric scooter.

DWNewman

We Usually do the gate check, and use the wheelchair line at security. My wife drives up to security, we put the scooter on "freewheel" and TSA takes it to double check, while my wife walks the short distance for her "normal" security screening.

With the ability of her walking short distances, we have had little trouble with the scooter, even when we encounter a higher or non cutout curb, she just gets off the scooter, and we lift it over the bump. Cobblestone streets can be a bit "bouncy" and jarring, but so far my wife hasn't had too many issues.

We just returned from a two week trip in Germany, where we rented a station wagon type car to transport the scooter between stays. It has also been to Beijing (but we left it at the hotel, and borrowed a standard wheelchair for a day trip to Xian (short Air China flight)), Paris, and London, as well as all around the US.

The London trip taught us to watch the battery life - we ran out of power, and I had to push her and the scooter a few blocks back to the hotel. We now have a spare set of batteries so we can travel further away from the hotel, but in most cities, we just look for a station wagon type taxi for longer excursions. Our scooter uses two 12 volt batteries, so if anything ever happens to the charger, we can purchase and use an inexpensive car battery charger "in a pinch" (has actually happened twice for us. once when the charger just didn't work, and once when the charger was damaged on the trip.)

The scooter has been very helpful for us. and has started several interesting conversations with the locals in the countries that we have visited.

Dennis

flyingfran

Thanks so much for the information. I got my scooter today, and I am so excited. I drove all over the neighborhood, and had several interesting conversations with people I have lived near for five years, but never spoken to before. I stopped to study the landscapes and visit with the neighborhood children. I went to our amenities center and checked out the swimming pools in preparation for the arrival of our grandson on Saturday. It was so nice to be able to see all of those things.

I am really looking forward to taking it with us on vacation. I think it will fit easily in the trunk of any taxi. We drive a Chrysler Crossfire, and it fits in that tiny trunk with room to spare. We have discussed using it abroad, and think we can manage the curbs just as you and your wife have done. I am very excited about our next trip to Turkey. I have just a few worries about using it on mass transit systems like trams and subways, but I think we will be OK.

Most of all I am looking forward to being able to move through the airport without having to depend upon someone to push my wheelchair!

Thanks for the good advice about batteries. That is certainly something we will want to do before we leave the US.

DWNewman

As far as Mass Transit is concerned, I would just double check the city's website for accessibility. "most" major cities have accessible buses and trains.. but sometimes you need to give them a "heads up"

The only issue we had with the extra batteries was in Beijing. While Northwest had no problems with the extra batteries (gate checked along with the scooter in a small picnic cooler) the Chinese TSA had an issue, and originally told us that the scooter could go home with us, but not the batteries. I stood my ground, and when they finally read the Chinese writing on the batteries, they realized that they were safe. (fully sealed, not 'wet' cell)

Safe travels, and have fun in Turkey - That's on our list of places we want to get to. .

Dennis

cvusd

I have had a couple scooters i just found last yr the pheniox drive II 3 wheel scotter it is so easy to take apart to put in car & infact being disabled I can do it my self the battery comes out, the frame in 2 peices & seat comes off look for best deal thru these sites & also it comes with a light on it also,..... copy & paste the link below....

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&r...cooter&spell=1

flyingfran

Thought I would post an update to my experiences traveling with the scooter. We decided to gate check. We used the same TSA lines we use when a wheelchair attendant is pushing me. It was slightly more difficult for my husband because he had to watch both his carry-ons as well as mine (which are usually tended by the wheelchair attendant). I think he was a bit frazzled after dealing with camera, Cpap machine and two laptops.

I loved driving right to the gate myself. I stopped to look in a couple of gift shops, bought an interesting looking magazine, had a Starbuck's and generally enjoyed the freedom.

For most of my flights I was pre-boarded, just as I would have been in a airport wheelchair. Since our upgrades had already cleared I appreciated the pre-boarding opportunity. When the plane landed my scooter was delivered to the door of the plane, and I just hopped on it and went to my next gate or to the baggage carousel.

There were, however, enough glitches in the process to cause both my husband and myself some mental distress. Leaving ATL for LAX, the jetway rolled back to reveal my scooter still sitting at the end of the jetway. Since we could see it from the window I rang for the FA and she immediately contacted someone and the plane did not move until the scooter (and some other person's baby stroller) was loaded on the plane. It was pretty unnerving however. I wonder how often that happens. The only ID we had on the scooter was the ticket the GA put on it.

On one leg of one flight the GA did not pre-board me. Since we were flying FC we just went to the front of the line. She had a little fit because she had to go find a gate check tag, but the whole thing was her fault. She did not open the gate until 40 minutes before the flight, and she had to assign seats to 15 people. I sat in the line to get the gate check tag, and she ignored me. So we just went to board as soon as they started boarding.

On a terminal flight from SAN to SFO, the entire plane emptied and my scooter did not arrive, nor did the big, full-sized scooter of another lady on the plane. The FAs and Pilot, Co-Pilot were anxious to leave the plane and kept trying to find out what was happening with the scooters. Eventually the pilot went to find them.

After looking all over the area he found the baggage handlers had somehow moved the scooters out of their freewheel position and were carrying them. Not a huge problem with my 114 pound scooter, but the other scooter weighed 350 pounds. There apparently was no way for the baggage handlers to lift the scooter from baggage to the door of the plane. They took some long route around the end of the terminal and then man-handled the scooters on a freight elevator. The Pilot found them there, and helped them put the scooters in freewheel. I leave the key in my scooter, but for some reason they continued to push them down the full length of the terminal. The other lady never leaves a key in her scooter. Maybe they had to treat them both the same. My husband finally left me on the plane and went down the terminal, got my scooter and rode it to me.

Since we had now been on the ground for over 60 minutes I expected to find our two suitcases revolving around on a lonely carousel. Alas, when we reached the carousel no one had any luggage. We waited another 15 minutes for luggage to start to appear because the luggage handlers had a "higher priority", which I assume was the delivery of our scooters. I hope my fellow passengers did not know that it was my scooter that delayed everyone's luggage.

The lady traveling with the full-sized scooter had experienced all kinds of difficulties on this day, including having her scooter left at her first point of departure, and having to catch up with it in Chicago. The luggage handlers also broke her headlight and damaged her turning mechanism. She had no idea what to do about those issues, and neither did I, but I did suggest that she contact the airline staff that deals with damages to luggage.

Overall, I think I will continue to travel with the scooter. It is just extremely difficult for my husband to push my wheelchair when we are being tourists. Frankly, he probably needs to be in a wheelchair himself. Not only did I save $400 by not having to rent EVCs in the theme parks where we went with our grandchildren, but we went all kinds of places where I would have stayed in the car and read a book. We spent time looking around the historic district in San Diego. We went to a couple of museums in San Francisco, and spent two nice days on Fisherman's Wharf as well as two days starting at the Embaradero and wandering through the city. I have not had so much fun on a vacation in years. The freedom was so delightful.

I continue to worry about the airline people actually putting my scooter on the plane when I gate check it. I know of no way to make sure this happens if we do not have seats on that side of the plane. I think it would be obnoxious to always ask a FA to check that it has been placed on the plane.

The pilot suggested that we included a set of simple instructions for moving the scooter so luggage handlers could refer to them. The people who had so much trouble said they had received no training in moving the scooters. I have doubts that anyone will read any instructions, but I think we will do that anyway. One thing I will absolutely do before I travel again is make sure there is plenty of identification right on the scooter in case it gets "lost".

Even with these problems, which were potentially significant, it was, overall, a great experience. I cannot imagine going anywhere without it, now that I have discovered how useful it is.

Not sure how we are going to manage Europe or Turkey later this year, but will keep you posted. In the meantime, if anyone has ideas to avoid the difficulties we experienced, please let me know.

DeafFlyer

Thanks for the update. I stick stickers with my name and address on every removable part of my chair, as well as on the chair frame. If something gets separated at least it can be sent to me.

DWNewman

Great update - Thanks !
We've been thinking about providing some instructions with ours as well.
Did two weeks in Germany in April (mostly Hamburg) with little curb difficulty.
In October we're planning to really give it a test. We're flying through Amsterdam to Prague (KLM Cityhopper) and then taking the train to Vienna, before flying Air France to Paris. I'll let you know how the scooter fares on that one.

Dennis

flyingfran

I taped my business card onto all parts of my sticker after we saw the plane nearly leave it behind. When I get back to Florida I am going to have my name and address engraved on it in several places.

I would love to hear about your experiences in Europe before we leave for Istanbul. I think, however, that we will be going from September through October.

My husband still has reservations about the scooter on the rough cobblestones, but I am ready to give it a try. Maybe I will try it on the cobblestones in Savannah before we go to Istanbul.

Katja

+1 on labeling your mobility aids. I have a brass luggage tag engraved my name, address, phone number & email address permanently affixed to my wheelchair.

Thanks for posting your experiences so far.

flyingwheels

Fran, what do you want to know about Europe? I'm European, so might be able to help you out some.

Dennis; at AMS the boarding assistance will be supplies by EMT trained outsources staff. Pretty OK folks, simply explain to them how YOU want to handle things and they'll comply with things. Now KLM and assistance might be a bit more adventurous. They tend to need a reminder once onboard and again after landing.

Be aware though of AMS baggage handlers. They have a bit of a reputation on this department, so pack accordingly and also; put some instructions on the ECV within sight!!! About 50% of the times they will be smart enough to read it and comply. If possible; disable the ECV for usage while out of your sight. AMS baggage handlers know how to overrule a regular disconnection of power. Might be OK, but I've seen my share of them driving ECV's and powerchairs where any fool can see they have no 'ability' to drive in more than one of those instances.

It's my home airport, and as long as I tried them nice but as if explaining things to them as I would to a toddler (and dealing accordingly), things tend to go without a hitch. If not; problems await.

If you haven't already; arrange a wheelchair for the transfer. At AMS they will not supply the power driven aids at the gate, but at baggage claim and no exception will be made. They take their time a bit to unload and reload the scooter, so no way to use it while at AMS.

And; enjoy it! If you have time; visit the AMS airport museum. It is great!