Influencer shows how she travels to the world when she is legally blind
Molly Burkes are legally blind and had many difficult times to travel through an airport.
Staff Video, USA Today
- A group of wheelchair rugby players experienced significant delays and difficulties while traveling on the United Airlines flight due to a series of operational issues.
- Athletes tolerated several transfer on the aircraft and closed on the aircraft using corridor chairs, which they described as uncomfortable and potentially harmful.
- Recent efforts by the Transport Department to increase security for disabled passengers, including increased punishment for damaged mobility equipment, are facing challenges from major American airlines, increasing concerns among advocates about possible failures in progress Are you
At the end of the wheelchair rugby tournament, Ryan Major was ready to go home. But instead of a smooth journey, a series of operational issues hit his flight and delayed his return.
“This is the worst experience ever I have traveled. I did not have to resort to gold at the airport to get continuity the next day, ”he told the USA Today.
Major Louisville was traveling home with paralyzed veterans of the US wheelchair rugby invitation in Kentki. On 16 February, when things started going wrong almost immediately.
According to Major, as well as Noah Currier and Seth McBrid – Flight of the same United Airlines for Chicago fell on their flight – at least 20 wheelchair users on their flight, which eventually canceled due to a series of complex events including bad weather including bad weather It was given, a broken dying machine at the airport and, finally, the crew time.
“I didn’t know that 20 other wheelchairs were going to be users in that flight. When we reached the gate, we saw all these wheelchairs and we were like, “Oh boy, he needs a lot of support here,” Currier said.
He said that one of the major problems seems that there was no way for everyone to tell the airport or airline in advance that they would need additional assistance.
Currier said that if you book through a third-party website, there may not be an area to request special assistance. Even if you book directly through the airline, he said, the needs of a disabled passenger are not always properly communicated to various contractors at the airport.
“No one knew how many chairs are going to happen in each flight. This becomes an issue for planning purposes, ”said Courier. “When we asked for many corridor chairs, they will call and you can see them doing so. But then only one corridor chair appeared. ,
Since the delay was increased and the flight was eventually canceled, all the three contestants said that they had to go and shut down on the aircraft several times, which is dangerous and especially for those travelers who have to be consumed on the wheelchair Trust, because the ground staff needs to help each person personally with transfer.
“A corridor chair is always a terrible experience for wheelchair users,” McBrid said, they are terrible for your body. ” “I have a slight pressure on my cocxyx and I am sure it is from the chair of the corridor and all transfer.”
At least once, McBrid said, all passengers took more than an hour to end all passengers requiring assistance, as a limited number of Isal chairs were available for use.
United Airlines accepted the incident.
“It was not the kind of experience we want to provide for our customers. On 16 February, the severe weather in Louisville canceled the United Flight 3640 for Chicago O’Hare. We came out personally for each customer and shared updates on their wheelchair position, the way we will meet them again with our belongings and offer compensation, ”Charles Hobart, a United spokesman, USA Today to USA Today Said in a statement. “We have since reunited customers with their goods and chairs.”
Wheelchair users call for additional improvement
While all the three passengers admitted that they returned their wheelchairs within the required time, they said that the airline should still do more to adjust the disabled passengers.
“This is a learning moment, and I think we need to be a part of that solution, whether it is non -profit -making organizations advocating for disabled travelers or disabled people,” said Courier.
The United Airlines has a pre -existing partnership with the United Spinal Association. The McBrid works for the organization and said that advocates have been clarified about what is needed.
“We know that this better training is airline staff and gate workers,” he told USA Today. “It is being held accountable with such things about the airlines and if this happens. It is about airlines that consider us like humans. ,
The story continues below.
Wheelchair damage is not just a problem
The Transport Department tracks the monthly data of airlines that damage wheelchair and other mobility devices, and while advocates say this is a big problem, it is a big problem, it is only one thing, it is only one thing to face the dynamics and other disabled people Not with
Heather Ansley, the chief policy officer of the US paralyzed veterans, told USA Today, “The body is due to all these transfer and movements, and it is just problematic.” “There is no list here, all the individuals we have been injured in the process of going and closing only on an aircraft. These are unseen statistics of people who are trying to travel by air. ,
Alex Benevith, vice -president of government relations at the United Spinal Association, agreed.
He said in a statement, “I see red lights shining everywhere.
And while some improvements in passenger safety were recently implemented by the dot, many are worried that they cannot be to live here.
Major US Airlines said they are challenging the dot’s rule for damaged or lost dynamics tools, arguing that the definition of discrimination is very widespread and some conditions, such as the turbulance damage to the wheelchair The transporters are beyond their control.
McBrid said, “It seemed that some progress was finally being made and whatever is happening right now, it is feeling that it is trying back to claw.”
Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and today writes cruzing altitude columns for USA. He is located in New York and you can reach her zwichter@usatoday.com.
