You can track how an airline handles missing or damaged luggage, so shouldn’t you be able to find the data about how carriers deal with wheelchairs? A new rule that would mandate airlines to report information on wheelchairs and scooters in the same way they track other luggage has now been delayed, prompting a group of veterans to sue the Department of Transportation. [More]
wheelchairs
Lawsuit Claims Uber Is “99.9% Inaccessible” To People With Mobility Disabilities
By 7.18.17
How hard is it for someone to get a wheelchair-accessible Uber in New York City? According to a new lawsuit, it’s pretty much impossible. [More]
Lawsuit: Disability Rights Group Claims Uber Violates U.S. Wheelchair Accessibility Laws
By 10.13.16 — Updated: 11.1.16
A Chicago disability rights group is suing Uber in federal court, claiming that the transportation company doesn’t provide reliable access to vehicles equipped to handle wheelchairs, in violation of U.S. laws. [More]
Lawsuit: Passenger Injured After United Airlines Failed To Provide Wheelchair Assistance
By 7.20.16
A United Airlines passenger has filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming that she fell down an escalator and was injured after the carrier failed to provide her with wheelchair assistance as promised. [More]
Wheelchair-Using Couple Insulted By Restaurant Ticket Calling Them ‘Chair’
By 4.7.16
When you work in a restaurant, don’t put anything on a customer’s ticket that you wouldn’t want them to see. If you want to know why, you can take a look back in our archives… or just ask the couple in Texas who are annoyed with a local churrascaria that identified them on their receipt as “CHAIR.” [More]
United Airlines Apologizes To Disabled Passenger Who Crawled Off Flight
By 10.26.15
United Airlines has issued an apology to a disabled passenger who ended up crawling off the plane after he was told he’d have to wait another 15 to 20 minutes for a wheelchair, on top of the 15 minutes he waited for the other passengers to deplane and 15 minutes he’d already spent expecting his wheels. [More]
98-Year-Old Traveler Says Airline Rolled Her Into Baggage Claim, Forgot About Her
By 9.25.15
Every year, a 98-year-old woman who lives in Spain flies to Texas to visit her daughter. She took American Airlines this year, and everything went well until she arrived at Dallas-Fort Worth airport, where she was supposed to be met by an attendant. A miscommunication meant that instead, she was left in the baggage claim, strapped to a wheelchair and unable to find anyone to help her. [More]
Parents Of Two Girls Say Six Flags Workers Insisted They Had To Stay With Their Wheelchairs During Show
By 10.29.14
The parents of two five-year-old girls who have similar medical conditions and use wheelchairs to get around say they were told at a Texas Six Flags park that their daughters would have to remain sitting in their wheels during a live show, and couldn’t sit on their parents’ laps where they could see better. Either that, or the wheelchairs would have to be parked outside. [More]
US Airways Fined $1.2 Million For Repeatedly Failing To Provide Proper Wheelchair Assistance
By 11.5.13
After reviewing hundreds of consumer complaints about US Airways’ lack of proper assistance for travelers in wheelchairs at two of the airline’s hub airports, the Dept. of Transportation has fined the carrier $1.2 million, a good chunk of which is to be used to improve systems for disabled passengers at these airports. [More]
Restaurant Turns Away Customer In Wheelchair, Charges $245 To Cancel Reservation
By 10.3.13
Some people may disagree that it’s fair for a restaurant to charge a cancellation fee when someone misses their reservation. However, there’s pretty much no one who thinks that it’s fair to charge a cancellation fee because a customer uses a wheelchair and is literally unable to get in the door. [More]
Family Claims Museum Denied Their Daughter Entry Because Her Wheelchair Would Dirty The Carpets
By 7.12.13
A Savannah, Ga. maritime museum is busy apologizing after a family visiting from Charlotte claimed their 11-year-old daughter couldn’t come in because her wheelchair would “get the carpets dirty.” Instead, an employee reportedly told the family the girl could use one of museum’s wheelchairs, one that didn’t have the right straps to hold her. [More]
Airports Say More Travelers Are Faking Need For Wheelchairs Just To Get Through Lines Faster
By 5.30.13
The law requires that airlines provide free wheelchair assistance to anyone who requests it; no documentation or evidence of injury required. And a growing number of unscrupulous travelers are taking advantage of this system, faking injuries and disabilities to get preferential treatment at security checkpoints and at the gate. [More]
TSA Policies Are So Confusing It’s No Wonder A 3-Year-Old In A Wheelchair Gets Upset During Screening
By 2.22.13
The Transportation Security Administration is doing some quick apologizing after an incident that left a 3-year-old girl upset and crying when her parents were told she’d need to submit to a pat-down. The toddler has spina bifida and had reportedly already gone through security at Lambert- St. Louis International Airport, when her mom captured what appears to be TSA agents attempting to touch the tearful girl. [More]
First-Ever Wheelchair-Accessible Car Unveiled
By 10.19.11
For people who use wheelchairs to get around, this may mean an end to sitting in the back seats of conversion vans when it’s time to hit the road. [More]
United Airlines Returns Passenger's Wheelchair In Pieces
By 8.18.11
When a United Airlines passenger got off the flight from Washington, D.C., to Oklahoma City, he was expecting that his $20,000 power wheelchair would be waiting for him. And it was… well at least some of it was. [More]
AirTran Fined $500,000 For Lousy Wheelchair Service
By 8.31.10
The Transportation Department has served AirTran a $500,000 civil penalty for repeated failures to accommodate disabled travelers, reports Associated Press. The airline was also cited for not providing adequate responses to customers who complained, and for not properly filing complaints with the government. The biggest issue, however, was that it doesn’t always provide wheelchairs to disabled passengers in a timely manner. AirTran says it’s working on implementing a wheelchair tracking system at its hubs. [More]
Man In Wheelchair Unimpressed With Greyhound
By 12.21.09
According to Richard, Greyhound has some real work to do when it comes to making people in wheelchairs not feel like second-class citizens. Even in snowy weather and with delays, you don’t really want a driver telling a passenger that he should have brought an attendant if he wanted to get on the bus. [More]
Delta Makes Woman With Muscular Dystrophy Crawl Off Plane
By 7.29.08
On July 20th, Julianna’s (delayed) Delta flight landed in Atlanta at 7:30pm, with a connecting flight scheduled for 8:05pm. Julianna, who has muscular dystrophy, missed the connecting flight because nobody came with a wheelchair until 8:05—the same time the connecting flight took off. To make matters worse, the plane crew told Julianna she might make the flight anyway if she stopped waiting for help and got off the plane right now, so she crawled down the stairs on her own. When the wheelchair came she was “wheeled into a back room and advised” that her plane had taken off. But that was just the first half of her ordeal, and the next eight hours only got worse.
