Anyone taken a powerchair/scooter on an internal US flight?

[hipthehippo]

Hi

I was wondering whether anyone had done this and if so, what their experience was like?

There have been some real horror stories recently about how wheelchairs have been transported on internal flights. I've just invested in a rather expensive new power chair and we've been contemplating visiting both Disneyland Anaheim/San Diego and Orlando in 2023 with friends. I have ME and Fibromyalgia and the other option is to consider driving but I suspect this could be really rather exhausting - mainly because I'm a bit of a control freak - even though there would be other drivers.

TBH I'm not even really sure whether I'd be able to get travel insurance to cover my chair so am starting to worry excessively early (hello anxiety and depression anyone?).

Would be great to hear from anyone.

Thanks!

[wdw-wanderer]

Could you manage with a more basic cheapie chair for the journeys, (maybe a manual one if one of the friends could be the pusher) and hire a scooter at each destination?

[hipthehippo]

Hmmm - that's worth thinking about - thank you for that idea. My new wheelchair is just so much more comfortable though... I still have my old power chair - perhaps I should use that for travelling... Thank you for the lateral thinking!

[sarahmarie173]

Yes we have ( an electric scooter ) - it wasnt too bad. we weighed it at Gatwick ( its handy if you know the weight before you go as this was a bit of a hassle ) and they took it from the gate, we then got it back when we got to the baggage collection - the only thing is the battery pack has to come on board with you! I found this to be a bit of a pain but all in all worth it.

[hipthehippo]

Originally Posted by sarahmarie173

Yes we have ( an electric scooter ) - it wasnt too bad. we weighed it at Gatwick ( its handy if you know the weight before you go as this was a bit of a hassle ) and they took it from the gate, we then got it back when we got to the baggage collection - the only thing is the battery pack has to come on board with you! I found this to be a bit of a pain but all in all worth it.

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Thank you - we've taken my power chair with VA before and had no problems, but was wondering about the internal flights e.g. Orlando to San Diego. It seems to be that they don't seem to take as much care.

I think it might be prudent to take my old power chair rather than my new one when we go - if it doesn't survive then I can rent a scooter when I'm there - but hopefully it will!