My fear of flying goes beyond the run-of-the-mill terror over the prospect of my plane plummeting to the earth and shattering into smithereens. I use a motorized wheelchair, which is stored with the baggage while I fly. So even after I land safely, I still fear that my chair will get damaged and mangled along the way and will be returned to me looking like a twisted, cubist approximation of a motorized wheelchair.
I guarantee you that any wheelchair user who flies commercial airlines with a measure of frequency has at least one damaged chair horror story. I was once reunited with my chair at the gate only to discover that somehow someone ripped a power cord out of one of the motors, rendering the chair useless.
Noah Seidel’s wheelchair was returned to him completely disassembled after one flight. When he posted a picture of it on Facebook, he was blown away by the flood of comments he received from people with similar stories. He even made a video about it.
In 2011, the United States Department of Transportation issued a proposed rule to require that airlines maintain public records of instances of their “mishandling” of passengers' wheelchairs. That sounds like a reasonable action. This could give people like me useful information to help us choose to fly airlines that have the best record for safely handling wheelchairs. Right now, our primary means of educating ourselves is telling each other our terrifying tales of wheelchair annihilation.
But of course the airlines and the groups that protect their interests objected. And so the comment and rewrite process to which rules like this are subjected dragged on and on. Finally, last November, the Department of Transportation issued a final rule requiring airlines to begin keeping records of mishandling of wheelchairs transported in luggage compartments starting in January 2018.
But since then, well, let’s just say that things have changed in the executive branch. In March, the Department pushed the start date back to January 2019. And who knows how many more times it will get pushed back, if not eliminated?
Paralyzed Veterans of America issued a statement expressing “grave concerns” over the delay. The group spends a lot of time and energy advocating for the rights and safety of disabled airline passengers.
The group’s Executive Director, Sherman Gillums, said, “Our members are tired of incurring damage to their persons and wheelchairs when they travel by air, only to be caught in a web of inconvenient reporting and bureaucracy that results in little to no restitution. The information this new reporting will track plays an important role in protecting the health of our members and identifying additional training needed across the air travel industry.”
But the new president made a lot of campaign promises, and he aims to fulfill them with alacrity. He must have blurted out at one of his rallies, in a moment of passion, that when he’s in charge America will no longer be pushed around by those demanding disabled airline passengers. Especially those whiney vets. I wouldn’t be surprised.