Aisle Chair

[UNIVERSALANDY]

Just a heads up to fellow dibbers,
We are booked for November 2008 with Travel City Direct and when we did our special needs form i requested aisle chair boarding/unloading as we had in september of this year for my wife.

Well we received a hand written note from TCD stating they would not be able to offer aisle chair assistance and i would have to get my wife to her seat.

So whether it is because the new 767 aircraft have narrower aisles i do not know, but it will make life interesting as my wife can barely walk and there is only the two of us going.

So anybody with disable partners,children etc,be warned from the aircraft door, to their seat, it will be up to you to get them there.

[loadsapixiedust]

Which airport is this? Assistance onto the aircraft is usually provided by ground crew not the airline staff, so this seems odd.

I'd maybe try contacting the special assistance department at the airport for clarification. We always specify a 'full carry on' for our disabled DS and this has always been provided without any question. On a few occasions they have not used the aisle chair and just carried him to his seat.

If this is to become the norm it will have an impact on many disabled travellers. DH is also disabled so it would be down to me to do any lifting of DS and I couldn't do this on my own so if there was no assistance we wouldn't be able to travel :(

[UNIVERSALANDY]

The airport is Gatwick,the note basically stated that assistance would be provided to the aircraft door, but no aisle chair assistance would be available at either end and i would be responsible for getting my wife to her seat, as obviously the cabin crew are not allowed to assist.
I am currently at work,but i will check the note when i get home and I will contact the person at TCD tomorrow for further clarification.

[Saratoska]

our son also needs the aisle chair . we booked with MY Travel and because its now Thomas Cook our TA phoned them recenlty to make sure they had all the info transfered we requested a full carry on etc. Not a problem. we flew in a 767 this year and the aisle chair was used no problem.

we have a friend to used TCD recently and while the flight was good their Special Needs department he said didn't want to know.

[mainecoon lover]

Virgin told me there would be no carry on this year.

[Saratoska]

panicing now as there is now way we could lift our son. do they or would they allow us to tranfer him onto the aisle seat ? I have emailed our TA again and asked her to check again.

[mainecoon lover]

panicing now as there is now way we could lift our son. do they or would they allow us to tranfer him onto the aisle seat ? I have emailed our TA again and asked her to check again.

I am sure you can use the aisle chair.

[UNIVERSALANDY]

Just spoken to TCD Special needs department and it looks like i misread/misunderstood the note.
Yes aisle chair assistance will be given from the aircraft door to the seat,they meant during the flight, aisle chair assistance to the toilet etc would not be available.
Apologies for any alarm i may have caused please send all hate mail/death threats etc to

Stupid.wally@iamaprat.co.uk

[Saratoska]

Just spoken to TCD Special needs department and it looks like i misread/misunderstood the note.
Yes aisle chair assistance will be given from the aircraft door to the seat,they meant during the flight, aisle chair assistance to the toilet etc would not be available.
Apologies for any alarm i may have caused please send all hate mail/death threats etc to

Stupid.wally@iamaprat.co.uk

:pgig: :pgig: you are forgiven, I had phoned the airport last night and they said oh its up to the airline which I thought was stange because its always been ground staff who brought the chair and I have just got this from the disablities forum however she did say there was something about this coming up in the near future I took it to be a negative but reading the post below maybe its a postive




That can not be a US airline or even one flying into the U.S. since I assume they would have to follow the ADA requirements which are extensive or face major repercussions just as all U.S. carriers do. We even have to have aisle chairs stowed on the airplane for passengers to get to and from the bathroom etc in flight.
The EU finally is finally putting attention to flying with a disability and there are some law-changes coming up in 2008. With that in mind, combined with my experiences that even 'terrible' airlines and airports have got aisle chairs for at least boarding and deplaning, I really doubt it that any european carrier within the EU will deny you a aisle chair.






to be fair thay have always told us that they will not provide help during the flight for toilet etc which isn't an issue for us

[loadsapixiedust]

Phew! Glad that was a false alarm, had a wee panic there that we'd never be able to fly again.

[Saratoska]

Phew! Glad that was a false alarm, had a wee panic there that we'd never be able to fly again.

you and me both Lynn :omg:

deep down you think surely they can't do that what with the number of disabled passengers traveling in the world but you still panic :cry: