[Ohio-talk] Airlines and assistance problems

Tue Jun 23 16:36:05 UTC 2015

Kaiti:

You are our present and future and I am so proud of your maturity and tenacity!

YOU GO LADY!

Jw

Dr. JW Smith
Associate Professor
School of Communication Studies
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Athens, OH 45701
smithj at ohio.edu
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-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio-talk [mailto:ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kaiti Shelton via Ohio-talk
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 12:01 PM
To: NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List
Cc: Kaiti Shelton
Subject: [Ohio-talk] Airlines and assistance problems

Hi all,

After my recent flights I have some questions about airlines and assistance.  I know that there is some debate over how one should be independent in an airport.  Some say that you should not take any assistance at all and should just stop passersby if you need directions.  I personally feel like being independent to me means not bothering other travelers who have their own agendas, and I also would much rather get to my gate and anywhere else I might want to go quickly and efficiently than waste time and have to scramble to find my gate in time. I'm good about not abusing this; for example, in Charleston I had a skycap show me where the restrooms were so I could freshen up a bit, but I then retraced my steps and used my own landmarks to get back to my gate without assistance.  I was able to get lunch and freshen up in under 15 minutes, and I could have taken much longer had I not known when it was more independent of me to ask for help.  That's just how I view it.

Most of the time things went well.  United Airlines was great, and although they brought me a wheelchair they were quick to leave it at the end of the jetway once I said I didn't need it.  American airlines was also pretty good about that, though their expectations of blind people seemed a bit low.  The skycap I had freaked out a bit when I took off down a moving walkway, I guess not thinking it was safe for a blind person to do.  She then got me on a cart which went alongside the moving walkways which I only noticed were still there once we were moving, which seemed odd to me.  Perhaps she assumed I just wanted to get to my gate more quickly, but she didn't ask me if I wanted to continue using the moving walkways or take the cart either.  I also had to assure her I could use the escalator because I didn't want to wait for the elevator, but I could see how that might have also contributed to the problem even though escalators and moving walkways are relatively similar and you use a cane to handle both.  Security at Charlotte had obviously not had much experience working with blind people as well.  The lady working the scanner crossed her arms in an X and tried to grab both of my hands, almost like she was creating a support for me to lean on or something.  I had to assure her I could walk through without assistance and knew the pose to take for the metal detector to scan me already.  Everyone else there was great about using sighted guide in crowded places or just letting me follow on my own when I wanted to.  The weirdest thing by far, however, was that when I landed in Cincinnati the US air people brought a skycap with a wheelchair.  I tried to refuse it like usual, but thy weren't budging like they usually do.  It had been so easy with Delta, United, and American which I had all flown before.  I insisted that there was nothing wrong with my legs and asked if the wheelchair could be left at the end of the jetway like the others on my trip had been.  The employee said he wasn't allowed to escort anyone unless they took the wheelchair.  Faced with the options of arguing through my jetlag for the service I had really requested and meeting my parents who were waiting to take me home as soon as possible, I didn't argue further.
I did, however, tell the skycap as we were going that this was very unnecessary and it wasn't what I had requested from the airline, and it was pretty demeaning that I wasn't being given the assistance that was requested or appropriate for me.  I don't believe that he was trying to con me and really do think he was restricted in that way, but it seems ridiculous that US air specifically employs people to do that.  Had I not been jetlagged from 14 hours of travel by that point I would have put up more of a hard stance on the subject, but I didn't have the energy to argue further with him.  He did leave the chair in baggage claim and let me walk to the pick up area outside, but that was probably because he wasn't being watched as closely by other employees there and he also had no way to push the chair and haul my suitcase at the same time in the first place.

I was thinking of writing a letter to US Air or trying to make a phone call to register that this arguing with a customer about needing to take an unneeded wheelchair is not okay.  I was also thinking of writing a letter to Charlotte's airport so the security personelle could be told how to properly work with blind travelers in the TSA line and in the concourse areas.  One thing I'd also like them to change is that in Charlotte they were so focused on getting me to my gate even though I had a 3 hour layover that I didn't get to do the things like stop to buy lunch or freshen up on the way like I had wanted to.  It was okay that I went back for those things, but every other passenger has the opportunity to stop on their way to the gate and I didn't have that.  I do understand that the skycaps have other people to assist, but that doesn't mean I should be cut short or not given the same opportunities as other travelers, from buying what I want for lunch on my way to refusing a wheelchair and walking to baggage claim on my own.

Thoughts?.

--
Kaiti Shelton
University of Dayton 2016.
Music Therapy, Psychology, Philosophy
President, Ohio Association of Blind Students Sigma Alpha Iota-Delta Sigma

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