disability/injury assistance options at airport

July 31, 2021 2:40 AM

I just had a surgery out of state and will be flying back home in 10 days. Doctor has approved this as long as I don't lift over 10 lbs. Will airline staff help me move my luggage around the airport?

I know that the typical airport accommodation is a wheelchair, which I certainly wouldn't mind but I also don't necessarily need. I simply need someone to carry my bag for me at all times, and move my suitcase before I check it. How and when to communicate this with the airline? I can provide a doctor's note. Am flying Delta.

Unfortunately due to COVID I don't have friends or family in this city who are able to accompany me around the airport as non-ticketed assistants, which seems like the otherwise best case scenario.

Do I have options here?

posted by CancerSucks to Travel & Transportation (11 answers total)

Sure just call your airline and tell them you need assistance from curbside. They will put you in a wheelchair and take your bag for you. That's it. That's the system, so don't overcomplicate it for them by trying to get less help, which they are not setup to deal with.

Please have cash to tip everyone who helps you! I give them $10.
posted by DarlingBri at 3:10 AM on July 31, 2021 [18 favorites]

I believe so, just call your airline and ask for assistance with a lifting restriction where you cannot handle your own luggage. It should be no problem.

Last time my mom flew she had someone with her because she's visually impaired enough she can't read signs well enough to navigate an airport. Also bonus, he was willing to read ingredient lists off packaged food (which she hadn't requested) so she could buy something in the airport to eat that met her allergy restrictions. She was very thankful for this and it wasn't something she asked for in advance.
posted by AlexiaSky at 3:14 AM on July 31, 2021 [1 favorite]

My wife has mobility issues so we have some experience with this--admittedly in Europe and Australia rather than the US. However, DarlingBri has the right idea--all we have ever needed to do is just call the airline (there may be a special number for it) and ask for disability assistance. No idea about tipping them though; in Europe that doesn't seem to be an issue.

Off-topic: people actually work in disability assistance by choice. In Oslo Airport once we met a retired Norwegian Army medico who told us that he could live quite comfortably on his service pension, but after a working life of travelling around working on various UN peacekeeping operations, he wanted something to do that would keep him active. Oslo Airport were paying him to push people around in wheelchairs.
posted by Logophiliac at 6:14 AM on July 31, 2021

It's better to just get in the wheelchair, this way they get you through security faster.
posted by bleep at 8:55 AM on July 31, 2021 [5 favorites]

A family member did this with a broken ankle, the airline helped from door to door via a wheelchair, electric carts, early boarding, etc. It was a very positive experience for them. Call the airline.
posted by fake at 10:06 AM on July 31, 2021

Wheelchair assistance usually doesn't start until you get to the check-in desk where you can ask for help. (you might be able to flag someone who works for the airlines standing around in front of the check-in area to go and call for a wheelchair but not always). So you need a way to get your luggage from your ride to the inside. The easiest is to use curbside check in and have a driver drop you off and put your suitcases next to the curbside checkin stand. Even a taxi driver can do that much for you. Better yet, use rolling suitcases. Then you could probably also just roll your own suitcase inside to the check in line. If you can't lift your suitcase up to the scale/pass through area, the clerk can reach over and do it for you. Your luggage will then be checked all the way through to your destination. On the other end, you can usually just ask a kind person to lift your suitcase off the luggage carousel onto the ground and then you can pull it out to your ride where the driver can lift it into the car.

Next question is once your luggage is checked, if you are packed with just a minimal carry one that is under your weight limit than you are good to go without further assistance. If you still need help then I agree that you need to ask for wheelchair services.
posted by metahawk at 11:21 AM on July 31, 2021 [1 favorite]

The wheelchair pusher will also help you get your luggage off the carousel. There's no reason not to get a wheelchair.
posted by bleep at 5:11 PM on July 31, 2021

Order a wheel chair through the airline. There are white courtesy phones at the departures curb and you can call there to let them know that you ordered a wheelchair through the airline and need it to pick you up. They will pick you and your luggage up and bring you to the gate and anywhere in between you need to go. Tip them.

Check your bag, flight attendants are not allowed to lift your luggage into an overhead compartment for you.
posted by quince at 10:27 PM on July 31, 2021

Have used wheelchair assistance at airports a number of times, and have never experienced any downside. The people who do this are awesome. Yes to the cash tip.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:57 AM on August 1, 2021

In case it opens up other options for you... perhaps you could mail your luggage home, and then bring a suitable carry on with you on the plane.
posted by oceano at 1:53 PM on August 1, 2021 [1 favorite]

In case mailing or other methods don’t turn out to a an option, the skycap has always been able to push me with both my checked bag and my carryon in my lap.

(That one time there were several of us needing assistance who had to go from one end of a large airport to another to catch a connecting flight, they piled us all and our carryons into one of those big electric carts. That was actually pretty cool! I remember the driver kept calling out, “Beep beep!” but in her accent it sounded like “Bip bip!”)
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:16 PM on August 1, 2021