How is it that so little effort has been spent to ensure people like me feel welcome and comfortable when flying?
By Suzanne Costas
I live in Boston and want to visit my daughter in Los Angeles. Easy, right? Book a flight, visit daughter, fly home. If only. I use a power wheelchair that costs about as much as a small SUV. I’m terrified it could be damaged by an airline. My chair, a Quantum Edge, is essential to my getting around. To having a life.
The Quantum and I met two years ago and have been inseparable ever since. I didn’t see it coming, our relationship. It never occurred to me that I could develop a crippling illness that would eventually require use of a 400-pound mobility device — but I digress.
Back to visiting my daughter. Or, rather, not visiting. To fly to L.A., I must relinquish the Quantum and pray it won’t be in pieces when I land. Airlines mishandle thousands of power wheelchairs each year, according to data from the Department of Transportation. More than one in every 100 wheelchairs and scooters transported in the cargo hold are damaged, delayed or lost.
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