[Ohio-talk] Airlines and assistance problems

Tue Jun 23 22:09:12 UTC 2015

We need to remember to give a tip to those who will help us. They are
usually minimum wage
earners. Independence isn't for anyone to to decide for us, it is a
personal decision.  Megan and MS.P.

> 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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