[nabs-l] vacation tips please?

Fri Jun 15 04:15:01 UTC 2012

Hi all,
Thanks Humberto for your kind words, and yes I am following this
discussion. :) I have written several long posts about flying on this
list in the past, and I should have saved them somewhere, but I didn't
and I can't find them. I will offer a response here, but I think Greg
did a pretty good job of starting out, so I won't repeat what he said.
NABS is having a conference call on Sunday to discuss this topic, and
I will try to sit in if I can in case there are questions I can
answer, although I am confident Domonique will do a good job.
I would, however, like to offer some little-known advantages of
choosing to navigate the airport without assistance. I completely
think it is fine to take assistance for any reason, and the choice to
do so or not is an individual one. However, I think sometimes we are
taught that the only good way to get through the airport is with help,
and we don't necessarily think about other viable alternatives. I have
done it both with and without assistance, but prefer to do it without,
unless I am very rushed, have a ton of baggage or am not feeling well.
Here are some reasons I prefer to do it this way:

1. It's nice to go wherever I want whenever I want without feeling as
though I have a babysitter. If I have extra time at the airport, I
will usually not go right to the gate, but will often browse food
options or just walk around. With an assistant, I feel I have to go
right to the gate.
2. It's not always faster. As Greg mentioned, sometimes there's a
wait, and sometimes the escorts want to take a whole group of people
at once, which slows things down. Particularly when I get to my
destination, I am often restless and just want to get my bags and get
in a cab as soon as I can. Without assistance I can control how long
it takes. When I was flying back from Australia alone, I had a tight
connection and requested assistance, but I insisted on meeting my
escort at baggage claim, not right at the gate. I was told I'd have to
wait for the entire plane to deboard before getting assistance at the
gate, so I rushed to baggage claim on my own and met my escort there.
As it happened, I was the last person to walk through the doors on my
connecting plane because the time was so short; if I had waited for
assistance at the gate, I would have missed that flight.
3. No fighting with someone about whether you need a wheelchair,
golf-cart, preboarding or other accommodations. You can just do what
you want.
4. On a related note, sometimes when I take assistance, my name gets
put into the airline's system as a disabled passenger, and I can't
always control what assumptions are made about my needs by the
airline. If I want assistance on just one leg of the trip, it's harder
for me to refuse it on the other leg because I've been pegged as a
disabled passenger.
5. No worries about communication barriers between you and your
escort. Last fall I flew home to visit my parents and I had a bug bite
on my foot that swelled up making it painful to walk, so I decided to
get assistance to reduce the amount of walking. My escort was not a
native English speaker and got confused when I said I wanted to stop
at McDonald's before going to my gate. He thought I was asking him to
escort me onto the plane itself which he wasn't allowed to do and had
to find another employee to interpret before he understood what I was
telling him. Without assistance, again, you can go wherever you want
without having to communicate with someone else about it.
6. Perhaps related to (5)--international travel. While I have only
been to Australia by myself and they do provide assistance there, I
would guess that in many countries assistance is hard to get, and
finding an escort who speaks your language is probably even more
difficult. If you know the basics of independent airport travel, you
can literally go anywhere in the world by yourself.

So how do I do it without help? Not by magic, but a lot of good old
listening for sound cues and asking questions along the way. I can
find security by listening for the sound of the metal detectors, and
will ask someone if I am getting close. Fellow passengers can often be
very helpful in this regard and it's no inconvenience to them if
they're going the same way. To find your gate, look for a carpeted
area which will often have a TV or radio playing, and ask what gate
number you are at and for general directions to your gate. When it's
time to board, simply follow the line of other passengers past the
desk and down the jetway. The main thing to remember is that an
airport is enclosed and so it is impossible to get seriously lost. If
you get off track, all you need to do is ask one person for
clarification and you can get back on track. I say all this as someone
who has never been good at travel and who still gets nervous sometimes
about walking around in big open parking lots or crossing unfamiliar
streets. If you have more specific questions, feel free to write me
off-list, call me at
602-502-2255
or come to the call on Sunday and ask me or Domonique.

One more thing--I generally don't use the "disabled" security lines or
pre-board unless, again, I have a lot of luggage or am not feeling
well. Everyone has a different approach to these things, and I respect
all views on this matter, but for me it's a philosophy issue. If I am
moving around the airport independently, I want to be treated like any
other passenger, not babysat or coddled. In order to be treated like
one, I believe I need to put up with all the same inconveniences of
waiting in line and waiting my turn to board as anyone else. I also
don't feel it's fair to cut ahead of folks who got in line before me
or who checked in before I did, since my blindness doesn't impact my
ability to stand or to move down the jetway as other disabilities
might. Since these accommodations are irrelevant to my blindness, I
feel it is just as inappropriate for me to take them as it would be
for a sighted, nondisabled person to do so. I feel fairly strongly
about this, and usually have to negotiate with airline personnel who
try to redirect me. They will even do this when I am traveling with my
boyfriend, and infuriate me even more by talking to him instead of to
me about it. I do sometimes make an exception if I have a big bag
because that does tend to mess up my navigation and slow me down a
little bit, a problem I probably wouldn't have if I were sighted, so
I'll cut so as to not inconvenience others. Of course, if you are
using assistance, the employee escort will probably want to skip the
line in order to save his/her own time, which I think is fine.
Arielle

On 6/11/12, Brandon Keith Biggs <brandonkeithbiggs at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
> Wow, the below is pretty much exactly what I do! :O... I totally believe in
>
> asking from help from the get go, right as soon as you walk in the door.
> Airlines are often really good at getting you to where you need to go. They
>
> don't always know what Sighted Guide is though, so you'll probably need to
> ask them if you can please hold their elbow.
> I often make some joke about how their elbow and I are having a nice
> conversation about what's coming up as we're walking if they still are
> grabbing me despite me holding their elbow in one hand and my cane in the
> other. That usually helps. I also shrug off the wheelchair, saying it's way
>
> too slow. I do however love the little golf carts they sometimes take you
> around in, those are way faster than I could walk!
> But traveling with help gets you to the front of the line and keeps you from
>
> missing the flight. Also the airplane attendants know you're blind and let
> you know when they're coming by with the garbage or food so you don't miss
> it!
> What I'm anxious to know is how traveling overseas works... Non parlo
> Italiano! LOL
> Thanks,
>
> Brandon Keith Biggs
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Greg Aikens
> Sent: Monday, June 11, 2012 9:58 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] vacation tips please?
>
> Hi Beth,
> Everyone likes to do things different ways, but this is the way I generally
>
> handle things when I'm traveling through an airport alone.  If I am taking a
>
> cab to the airport, I will have them take me to the curb side check-in for
> my airline if it is available.  That way I can ditch my checked bags as
> early as possible, because I feel like they make navigating independently  a
>
> little more difficult.  If you do curb side check-in, it is generally
> expected that you tip the person handling your bags.  You can choose to
> follow this convention or not.  I have done both.
> If they don't have curb side check-in, I have my cab driver find the part of
>
> the drop off area with the sign for my airline so as to have the shortest
> path to travel once I get inside.  Once inside I will listen for the
> counters, lines of people, etc. and head towards one.  If it is the wrong
> one, they generally redirect me to the correct counter.  There are often
> airline employees helping passengers in line to answer questions etc. so
> keep an ear out.
>
> Once I have checked in, either curb side or at the counter inside, I ask for
>
> assistance to my gate.  I know some people prefer to do this independently,
>
> but I find it far less stressful and far quicker to get assistance with this
>
> step.  Sometimes you have to wait a few minutes for them to get someone up
> there to assist you, but I make sure I am waiting in an area where there is
>
> an employee I can ask to make sure I have not been forgotten.  These people
>
> have generally been helpful to me and have understood when I refused a
> wheelchair.  Occasionally you'll get someone who just doesn't get it, but if
>
> you are kind but firm, they generally get the idea.
>
> When you get to security there is generally a line designated for passengers
>
> with disabilities.  Sometimes it moves faster and sometimes slower than the
>
> main lines, so choose wisely.  If you have asked for assistance, you can ask
>
> the person with you to help judge the lines.  At security, you have to put
> everything you have into a bin, including your shoes.  I usually put my cane
>
> through the scanner with all my other stuff, but I think I have heard of
> people who keep it with them when they pass through the metal detector.  I
> find it simpler to put the cane through and trail the side of the machine up
>
> to the metal detector gate.  At that point I ask the security person to
> reach their hand through so I can touch hands with them to walk straight
> through the metal detector without touching the sides.  All in all, I am
> separated from my cane for 60 or 90 seconds at most.
>
> The person assisting me helps me find my gate, where I make contact with the
>
> people at the desk and then take a seat, as near as I can to the desk.  I
> usually pre board just because it seems easier.  Again, you can choose to do
>
> this or not.
>
> The biggest thing to remember is that the people assisting you are there to
>
> help you, not to tell you what to do.  If you are ever uncomfortable, you
> should definitely say something.  You are the one in control, and sometimes
>
> airport staff need to be reminded of that.  Remember that you are allowed to
>
> keep your cane with you at all times, with the possible exception of passing
>
> through the metal detector.
>
> I wrote you a novel, but I hope at least some of this stuff is helpful.
> Just remember that this is one guy's opinion.  Have fun in GA.
>
> -Greg
> On Jun 11, 2012, at 11:17 PM, Beth wrote:
>
>> Hi, guys.  What are you nabs-sters doing for vacations?  I'm actually
>> flying to Georgia to visit my boyfriend, and I would like some practical
>> no-nonsense tips on how to go through security and airport stuff period.
>> How should I deal with people who try to offer me a wheelchair to get into
>>
>> the plane?  Whaut's the best way to deal with people who might ask me to
>> sit on the floor even?  This is only the second time I've planned a trip
>> without a group of blind people or family around.  I would like to get
>> some good tips on whuat to do at the airport, and how much it usually
>> would cost for you Denver people to go from east Denver, my house, to DIA.
>>
>> Thanks, guys.
>> Beth
>>
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