Flying with a Disability
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Help transfer in the plane (overweight)
Help transfer in the plane (overweight)
Hello everyone 🙂
A French customer/traveller wishes to travel to Japan.
The real problem is going to be the plane.
Sir would have liked to stay on his electric wheelchair but it is impossible:)
The gentleman will be accompanied by his life assistant, this gentleman weighs 110 kg and his assistant will not be able to transfer from the electric chair to the loan chair and from the loan chair in the plane to the seat.
Do you know if specific help is provided on the plane?
I have contacted the airlines’ offices; I am afraid they will answer yes without taking note of the difficulty this may be.
Your testimonials and opinions are welcome:)
Thank you in advance for your help,
Anaïs
- 2 Replies
Hi Anaïs,
May I ask, how does your client normally transfer out of their wheelchair to, say, a toilet seat or commode, or to their bed? If they are used to using a hoist, then many airlines have hoists available for boarding and deplaning.
My sincere advice would be to contact the airline and the airport well in advance. Explain the entire situation and emphasise that the customer is unable to transfer independently and that the PA traveling with him is unable to assist with lifting. This will alert them to the need for additional support.
I would then follow up with a call 48 hours before the flight, where you reconfirm the situation and the need. Then, I would instruct the passenger to arrive with PLENTY of time at the airport and make themselves known to airport assistance at the earliest opportunity. When doing so, confirm for a third time what the passenger can and can’t do, and triple-check that the assistance needed will be in place.
It would also be wise to let the client know about the toilet situation on a long-haul flight. Whilst airlines do have aisle chairs that can be used to take a fairly independent disabled person to the (very cramped) “accessible bathroom”, they do not (to my knowledge) offer this same hoist facility mid-flight. I would recommend taking a look at this article that I wrote for my website: https://theworldisaccessible.com/accessible-bathrooms-on-airplanes-what-are-my-options/, which takes you through some of the many different options and techniques for wheelchair users (some of which are not the most pleasant, sadly).
Hope this helps!Hello Anthony,
Thank you very much for your answer and all these tips !
My client must use a hoist for the bed and toilet.
I made it clear that the person does not travel alone and that her life assistant cannot do the transfer alone.
But I didn’t specify for the hoist !
And I was not aware of any companies using this system.
This is very good news ! I will clarify this information to the airlines.
I will also contact the airports, indeed, because it would need this system before boarding.
Thank you for your article, it-s verry clear and helping 🙂
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