[Ohio-talk] Airlines and assistance problems

Wed Jun 24 01:39:00 UTC 2015

very Good Deborah. My airport that I found not so helpful was Fort
Lauderdale Fla. I guess we
all have our favorites and not favorites. You are  right. It does get
tiring as Katie said
about the get lag. i always remind myself that these folks are poorly
paid, and not rehab
 professionals. They are here to help. I find them very sincere and
helpful. We need to reach
out of ourselves and remember everyone has good days and bad day.  I am
sure Katie
 you did your best. Megan and MS. P.

> 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
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ohio-talk mailing list
> Ohio-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ohio-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Ohio-talk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/ohio-talk_nfbnet.org/rchpay7%40gmail.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ohio-talk mailing list
> Ohio-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ohio-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Ohio-talk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/ohio-talk_nfbnet.org/dkkendrick%40earthlin
> k.net
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ohio-talk mailing list
> Ohio-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ohio-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Ohio-talk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/ohio-talk_nfbnet.org/meandthedog%40oberlin.net
>