Travelling with a wheelchair

Hi everyone

Yet another question i am afraid!
We are going in September this year and my father in law is coming with us. He needs a wheelchair to travel any kind of distance but can manage very short distances on foot.
I was wondering what happens at the airport, wether he can use his own chair right up to the aircraft door and then have it put into the hold or if he is better checking it in and using one of the airports chairs? An added complication is that we have a 4 hour stop over at Iceland and are planning to go to the Blue Lagoon so he will need his own chair for that. Does this mean he will have to check it back in again once we return from the trip?
I dont really know what the best solution is and i will be talking to my travel agent to get her views but i was just wondering if any of you guys have had a similar experience and how you organised it.

Many thanks

Mack [msnsmile2]

First of all, you need to tell your airline in advance that your FIL uses a wheelchair. If he needs his wheelchair (or a wheelchair if it's not possible to have his own removed from the hold) for your stopover, also make them aware of this. He can use his own wheelchair up to the aircraft entrance and, if he needs assistance getting on the plane to his seat, then the airport will be able to arrange this, given advance warning as above. If he needs assistance in getting to the toilet on the flight, there are special aisle wheelchairs available on board and the cabin crew will be able to assist him.

Make sure that his wheelchair is covered by suitable insurance and that it actually belongs to him (ie isn't an NHS one) or he needs to ask permission to take it with him. Ensure that it's securely labelled in case there's more than one on your flight.

Florida is a great place to travel with a wheelchair as everywhere has wheelchair friendly toilets, doors are wider and everyone is really kind to anyone in a chair. There are virtually no places which are inaccessible, unlike in the UK. My father was in a wheelchair and was totally impressed with the facilities and welcome that he received both on our journey and everywhere we visited in Florida.

Blott

Do you know if various airlines have disabled toilets on board?

The reason I ask is that my dad suffered a stroke a few years back, he can walk with assistance but is paralysed down his left side and wears a brace on his leg. Therefore, he uses his wheel chair quite a lot. He is ok in the bathroom but needs assistance to sit and stand (which we are happy help with) but I wondered if the disabled toilets (if any) are big enough for two people to be in at the same time.

He used to love travelling abroad but we've been reluctant to try just in case we end up with problems. Its a real shame that some disabled people feel they can't carry on enjoying their lives because of a slight lack of amenities.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Ann-Marie[msnsad]

Some aircraft too-certainly one of the new airbusses do-and the aircraft should have a little aisle chair to transport the person to it.

I am not aware that all of the aircraft have a toilet that is 'aisle' chair aceesible-you certainly would not get a wheelchair in one.

Re-wheelchairs and insurance. Mine was badly damaged on a flight a year ago. We had to fight long and hard to get re-compense. They wanted us to claim on our household ins-which my husband refused to do-as once it was taken out of our possession it had nothing to do with us.

After many long and quarrelsome phone calls-my exasperated hubby said look-we are arguing over £500 here-you want to be really thankful it wasn't one of theose £3000 jobbies.

They paid up!

As reagrds the toilets being big enough to take two people-I can't say for definite-but it might just be possible.

Thanks Orlandobabe

Much appreciated. Dad could get in the WC without his chair but would need some help with his attire. Hopefully, we may well get him a sunny holiday abroad soon!

Cheers

Ann-Marie:D

Hi Big Mack, my fiance's mum can't walk great distances and what we done was called Icelandair and asked them if we could have wheelchair assistance. When we checked in at Glasgow we picked up the wheelchair without any problems and there was always a wheelchair waiting on us whenever we got off the flight on all outbound and inbound flights and a member of staff was always there to push it.
On the trip to the Blue Lagoon my finace's mum managed to walk from the bus to the entrance as it wasn't too far.
We hired a scooter for her and it was delivered to our villa in Orlando and to be honest it was great ! Not only did she manage all the malls, trips etc it's amazing the way you are treated at the parks ! There's also plugs around all the parks to re-charge the scooter if needed.

Let me know if you need to know anything else !

We only got back on Sunday and this is my first day back at work
[msncry] !!! Already counting the weeks until September [:I]

A lot does depend on the airline as to whether they will let you keep your own wheelchair up to boarding or whether they will provide one for use within the airport. It's best to check direct with the airline as I've known travel agents to ask the wrong questions.

I haven't come across a disabled toilet on a plane that has enough room for two adults, there's barely enough room for an adult with a disabled child. I've never flown first class so maybe it's diffferent there.

Herbie

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Herbie
A lot does depend on the airline as to whether they will let you keep your own wheelchair up to boarding or whether they will provide one for use within the airport. It's best to check direct with the airline as I've known travel agents to ask the wrong questions.

I haven't come across a disabled toilet on a plane that has enough room for two adults, there's barely enough room for an adult with a disabled child. I've never flown first class so maybe it's diffferent there.

Herbie
[/quote]

I've got myself locked in the loo twice on a plane...at one time it was a great way to meet the pilot.....[8D]

Hi Rubayr :)

A scooter, now why didnt i think of that[:I]

my father in law has one that he uses over here and i am sure he would be delighted if i could organise one for the trip to Florida. Also it would save me having to push him everywhere!![}:)]
Hope you dont mind if i ask some questions.

Where did you hire it from and what did it cost?
Was it easy enough to get it in and out of your hire car?
Did you still take a wheelchair with you or was there no need because of the scooter? (This would save us much space in the car to and from the airport)
When you stop over in Iceland is there always an airbridge?

Cant think of anything else just now,

Thanks very much for any help you can give :D

P.S. are the Scottish Eagles still on the go??? [?]

Hi Big Mack, I'll send you a PM shortly....need to check with the in-laws ![:I]