Flying is the part of travelling we plan hardest, because it is the part where you have the least control. On a train you can wait for the next one. At thirty-five thousand feet, in an aisle chair, you cannot.
Your rights, briefly
Assistance at airports is a legal right, not a favour. Airlines and airports must provide it free of charge, and your wheelchair travels free — it does not come out of your baggage allowance. Give the airline at least 48 hours’ notice and they are obliged to arrange it. Give them less and they must still do what they reasonably can.
Knowing that matters, because you will occasionally meet someone at a desk who talks about it as though it were a kindness they are doing you.
What to tell them when you book
- Whether you can walk a short distance, walk a few steps, or not at all. Airlines use codes for this and getting it right determines what turns up for you.
- The make and model of the wheelchair.
- Its exact weight and folded dimensions.
- Whether the battery is wet, gel, or lithium — this one genuinely matters and lithium has extra rules.
- Whether it folds, and how.
The bit nobody explains
You do not stay in your own wheelchair. At the gate you transfer to a narrow aisle chair, and your own chair goes into the hold with the suitcases. This is the moment that worries people most the first time, and reasonably so.
What we do about it:
- Photograph the chair from every angle at the gate, with the date visible if you can. If it comes back damaged, you are arguing from evidence rather than memory.
- Remove anything removable — cushion, footplates, joystick, bag — and take it into the cabin.
- Tape a laminated card to the chair with handling instructions and your phone number.
- Ask for it back at the aircraft door, not at baggage reclaim. You are entitled to ask, and at many airports they will do it. Being pushed through a strange airport in someone else’s chair is a miserable way to arrive.
- Report any damage before you leave the airport. Once you have walked out of the terminal, claims get much harder.
Onboard
Most short-haul aircraft do not have an accessible toilet. Long-haul often does, but “accessible” is doing heavy lifting in that sentence. Plan accordingly, and do not let anyone make you feel awkward about it.
Your turn: if you have experiences of your own — the places that got it right, and the ones that got it badly wrong — tell us in the comments below. Every report helps the next traveller.