Most Wheelchairs at the Gate?
 

I have seen this before.. but not quite this bad. Took a quick flight from MIA - MCO yesterday afternoon.. when we landed and I exited there were 16 wheelchairs with attendants lined up. (757 full flight) I spoke to one of the gentleman who was waiting for a pax.. he told me there were more requests.. but they didn't have enough wheelchairs or people.

Just curious what others have seen getting off the plane before in relation to chair counts?

Lots of old/fat/feeble people in the world today. Film at 11.

My top was around 6.

Don't know the number, but once there were way more chairs than people to push them, so one person would push a chair, and that person in the chair was pushing one in front of them.

Most I saw was during boarding of a CX flight from SFO to HKG. When they called for people who needed boarding assistance, there was a long line of people in wheelchairs with their companions (presumably family members).

Always a lot of wheelchairs at the gate coming or going to RST (home of Mayo Clinic).

Certain international flights with connecting passengers often have more than 16.

Back in January we were on an AS flight out of SEA headed for PHX. It was a 737-800 and about a third of the sold out travelers needed pre-boarding assistance. The wheelchairs just kept coming and coming!
It did speed things up in PHX though as most of those who got on early stayed on board so the rest of us could get off.
But I always wonder what would happen if there was an in-flight emergency.... so many elderly who could scarcely move. How would they ever slide down a chute in an emergency?

Was going to Palm Springs last March. I was the youngest one to get on the plane. There were 22 wheel chairs and another 19 people that needed additional time to board...... lol lol

The gate agent looked at me and apologized and said ..... "I should have boarded you first.... " LOL LOL

I just shrugged my shoulders, chuckled and kept reading my book.... LOL

A lot of the airlines at PBI don't even do special assistance preboarding because they aren't the exception. I used to fly PBI to Newark on Continental all the time and I remember one particular flight that must have been about 1/3 wheelchairs. If I recall US Airways didn't do pre-boarding there either.

Edited because I just realized you said Palm Springs not Palm Beach. Either way, massive tons of retirees.

My record also took place at PBI (it was either CO or AA). As I was seated in the bulkhead row, I was going to be the first in line to disembark, when the ground agent asked us to wait for just a moment. She then made the following announcement (paraphrased) "To those who have made wheelchair requests, we ask your patience - we have 63 wheelchair requests, and we will accommodate everyone in row order; but we don't have enough chairs, so we will need to do it in shifts".....

blimey! and I thought that 6 wheelchairs on a flight was busy!

13 at LAS

Ah, the subtle advantages of having one's own wheelchair...

last flight I took I used my own wheelchair, but on the stop over I had to use the airport one as they put my chair onto the next flight. And yes, my chair was there at my destination but I couldn't have it until I was pushed to the luggage claim. Luckily there was only a slight damage to the chair as I had been worried it got damaged.