Abuse of Wheelchairs for US Arrivals
I am noticing a seemingly large increase in wheelchairs awaiting people in the US. I recently observed a flight from Zurich to JFK with at least twice the number of wheel chairs on arrival than departure. I know US immigration is a pain, but is this the answer ?
Or was my experience on that particular day a one-off ??? |
Since LX doesn't allow the MAAS service anymore, I suppose people book WCHR so the elderly get taken care of.
More here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/swiss...s-seniors.html http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/swiss...-lx-lingo.html |
Let's hope people aren't abusing this.
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Thanks for this info Oliver2002 - and you super quick response as always.
But my point was more that people did NOT use wheel-chairs on departure in ZUR but did on arrival in JFK. I have a funny feeling its just to get to the front of the immigrations line there ... |
In one of the US airports I arrived in the past 6 months, I had a somewhat heated discussion with DHS about wheelchairs, and their "rights" to skip the queue. There might be some truth in the OP.
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It's a fairly obvious problem at a number of airports.
One of the ways to lessen this abuse may be to require family members to go through the normal lines so the time savings aspect is substantially downgraded, I.e., only one family member may accompany the WHCR user. |
Originally Posted by Braniff
(Post 22663039)
But my point was more that people did NOT use wheel-chairs on departure in ZUR but did on arrival in JFK.
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Originally Posted by oliver2002
(Post 22663117)
You can't request WCHR just for arrivals, its usually for the entire trip. @:-)
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Originally Posted by oliver2002
(Post 22663117)
You can't request WCHR just for arrivals, its usually for the entire trip. @:-)
Originally Posted by Braniff
(Post 22663143)
I do not believe that is correct. Witness my earlier posts.
This was just prior to a hip replacement and I had trouble walking longer distances or standing in lines for more than a few minutes. I was 30 years younger than the average hip replacement patient, looked (fairly) young and fit, and for short distances could walk quite briskly, so I'm sure I looked like I was cheating the system. But 10 minutes of standing or 150 metres walking and I was in agony. At some airports (SYD, LAX), the wheelchair assistant took me to the gate area where I just got out of the wheelchair and waited with the other passengers while the wheelchair person went to help someone else. If you got to the gate after me, you would have seen me boarding on my own but having a wheelchair at the other end. In DEN the young lady pushing the chair was so confused by the airport layout that when she (eventually!) got me to the AA lounge (which was very near my departure gate), I told her I would be okay from there. So you would have seen me going from the lounge to the gate on my own feet but getting collected by a wheelchair in LAX. The other thing I learned from my experience is that many people who book airport wheelchairs are in that borderline situation of just needing the extra help. People who are absolutely reliant on a wheelchair have their own chair and are able to move themselves, they don't arrange an airport chair and an airport employee to push them. |
Originally Posted by oliver2002
(Post 22663117)
You can't request WCHR just for arrivals, its usually for the entire trip. @:-)
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When you have a WCHR SSR in your booking you have to request special assist when you arrive at checkin. If you don't then they won't offer it. @:-)
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Originally Posted by flyquiet
(Post 22631801)
I don't think we need to go there. There's been enough slurring on FT of people with disabilities with this exact same insinuation that to repeat the debate is redundant. While non-disabled people do undoubtedly abuse services of accessibility, you just don't know the reason "grandma" needed the wheelchair.
I am quite certain that from time to time people question my disability, and I don't need to get into any pissing contest with anybody about it. People who need help sometimes do not need help other times, for example, when rushing to a plane after rushing from the car park, they need help; when disembarking after resting for two hours, and expecting to walk slowly once they get into the jet bridge and terminal, they don't need help. It is less harmful to accommodate someone who does not really need the assistance than it is to disparage, slur, and stigmatize someone who really does need the assistance but somehow doesn't meet your non-professional standards of "how bad they are supposed to look".
Originally Posted by Doc Savage
(Post 22663116)
It's a fairly obvious problem at a number of airports.
One of the ways to lessen this abuse may be to require family members to go through the normal lines so the time savings aspect is substantially downgraded, I.e., only one family member may accompany the WHCR user. |
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After a 12h ride in coach one might need a wheelchair ;). |
I made the same observation, though not on LX but on AB. Upon boarding in Germany, there were the usual 2-3 wheelchair pax. Upon disembarkation at JFK I witnessed the Purser saying at the door "38 wheelchairs". And really, wheelchairs lined up all the way down the jetbridge ... and they all wheeled past us at immigration:td:
Now I really feel somewhat betrayed. I'm not handicapped, but I faint easily when standing upright - I've had this since I was a teenager. But I so far never ordered a wheelchair (since I have no problem walking) - but fainted several times at US immigration ... :( |
Unless you know the circumstances of the person in the chair don't condemn or even presume to judge.
I was the (totally innocent) victim of a big RTA five years ago and had major hip and pelvic surgery as a consequence and a year of physiotherapy just to learn to walk again. I can walk slowly over a distance of up to 1km but what I cannot do without it causing me major pain is stand still. I never travel to the US but if I was faced with a guaranteed wait in immigration of the sort that is the norm there I would seriously consider asking for a wheelchair because the alternative would cause me serious pain which would then last me for up to a week. Anyone who doesn't like that just hope you never suffer the same injuries as I have - in other words get over yourselves and stop worrying about your little first world problems you selfish self obsessed little people. |
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