[Ohio-talk] Airlines and assistance problems

Tue Jun 23 23:25:49 UTC 2015

Kaiti, 
First, I am so impressed with how you handled all of these difficult
situations.  
Secondly, these are long-standing, ongoing problems, and the worst of it is
that circumstances vary from airport to airport, airline to airline, and
person to person.  
Part of the problem is that some of the people who provide assistance are
with outside contract agencies, and are paid very little.  
I have a personal fondness for Delta in Cincinnati, with whom I've probably
flown 50,000 miles in the last couple of years.  
Why?  Because they quite often use their own staff to walk to the gate with
me.  These are people with loyalty to the company and experience in various
contexts -- ticket counter, gate, luggage loading, etc.  I'm on a first-name
basis with several of them at CVG and, as with all situations all of us
face, they treat me well because they have come to know me.  
And that's the problem.  You have such a beautiful personality that I know I
don't have to tell you this, but I will point out the obvious just to get
you thinking about it.  
When we engage socialy with people, they learn that we are more like them
than unlike them.  
Initially, for example, these assist people (if they are the kind mentioned
above) will ask me if Im going to visit relatives.  Why?  Because they
cannot imagine that a blind person is doing anything else but visiting
people who will take care of us.  
So I tell them that I'm going for work.  I don't elaborate on and on because
we also don't want to leave them thinking that blind people are obnoxious
braggarts, but I try to give enough information to be interesting.
Then I ask about them.  How long have you worked with
Delta?Southwest?whatever?  Do you get to fly for free?  Where have you gone?

Usually, such a fun conversation about travel and amazing places ensues that
we are friends of sorts by the time we reach the gate.  
As I said, it varies from airport to airport.  
My personal experience tells me to try never to be in Atlanta or Chicago,but
as sure as I write that, someone who is blind will certainly know of a
wonderful experience had in one or both of those airports.  
The better trained ones, by the way, will ask:  "Would you like to stop
anywhere along the waY?"
And even if they don't ask, I often ask them where the food places are.  
I had a great time in Minneapolis a month or two ago when I asked a guy,
whose first language was not English, by the way, where I might buy
moisturizer.  He ddn't understand at first, so I pointed to my face and said
"Make up.  Skin products.  You know..."  
He took me to  a boutique I would never have thought of and I bought the
greatest tinted moisturizer, SPF 15, I have ever had!  
And yeah, sometimes it all spins out of control and hideous things happen to
me, to all of us.  
I think if you have the energy, you should write the letters.  
I also think you should just keep being your beautiful self and know that,
whether we want to or not, each of us is assigned the task of educating the
world, one person at a time.  
I, for one, am glad that you are among our teachers!

Deborah
-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio-talk [mailto:ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of richard
via Ohio-talk
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 6:01 PM
To: 'NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List'
Cc: richard
Subject: Re: [Ohio-talk] Airlines and assistance problems

I will not write a  long letter but it is important to  understand that you
need not to prove to anyone how independent you are.
I can remember one of our famous presidents faced with the questions about
his independence. You should research what he said to the students, I have
never rode in the chair and think that because of my great attitude they
leave the chair are I will leave them.
We have to do what we can to educate but at the same time get what we need.
Positive Payne
 Richard

-----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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