what is it like travelling by plane for a wheelchair user? What could airlines do better? “the system is outdated” says callum dziedzic
A few months ago, a sobering stat re-surfaced online courtesy of the Los Angeles Times - a survey found that, in the US, airlines lose or damage on average 26 wheelchairs A DAY. This gained much traction in the disabled community once again as wheelchair users on social media shared stories about travel plans having been ruined due to their chairs not being treated with the appropriate amount of care and respect. Callum (@callumdz on instagram), who has Cerebral Palsy, in response to this stat, got in touch with me and said he would like to share his own experiences, as well as some thoughts on what airlines could do better to improve the customer experience of those who use wheelchairs.
[ID - Callum is sat in his wheelchair on a wooden pathway in the mid of a misty forest. He has light brown hair, white skin and blue eyes. He is wearing a brown jacket with a grey jumper underneath, and black jeans. He is also wearing gloves, whilst holding a blue cup in one of his hands.]
“In 2012, I had just finished my A Levels, and I was a bit unsure of what I wanted to do,” Callum tells me over Zoom. “I originally wanted to study medicine [at university]. Before I applied though, I got in touch with the General Medical Council and told them that I was disabled, and asked them if that would be a problem for when I would practice as a doctor.”
Callum was told that the General Medical Council would not be able to determine if this would be a problem until he had completed his medical training and an assessment had taken place. Wanting to gain more specific details before committing to a medical degree, he then managed to gain an impression of what this assessment might look like.
They eventually told Callum what the assessment may consist of, and it was at this point that he decided that a career in medicine wasn’t for him.
“It was then a huge reframe of like, holy shit, like what do I want to do with my life? And holy shit, what am I gonna do with all these science A-Levels that I like, absolutely killed myself to get.”
Callum then decided that he wanted to take a gap year to really consider these questions before re-applying to university courses the following year. Since he was 16, he had worked at his local Apple Store, and told his manager that he wanted to use the year to gain some experience in other parts of the world - “within about two weeks, I was on a plane to Australia.” Callum had managed to find an opportunity with another member of staff who was immigrating there with their family.
“I also came out to my family at the same time,” he tells me, “I thought, at least if it goes badly, I’ll be moving to Australia anyway,” he laughs.
Callum boarded the plane for the first leg of the journey from London to Singapore. When he sat down, he came to realise the magnitude of what he was doing - moving to the other side of the world for a year, having never lived away from home, with nothing but a bag and a work address. He had two weeks before he started work and was excited to settle in.
“We landed in Singapore, and that’s when I realised that something wasn’t quite right.”
“I had spoken to the airline beforehand, and they had made arrangements for my chair to be returned to me so I could use it for the duration of the layover in the airport between my flights.” When Callum disembarked, he was met by ground staff at the aircraft door, who put him in an airport wheelchair. He tried to explain that there were arrangements for his personal chair to meet him - instead, he was taken to an accessible lounge, along with all other passengers who needed travel assistance whilst awaiting flights.
“I planned to go for a shower in-between my flights, go through Duty Free, get a coffee - they even have a butterfly hall in the airport. I just wanted to do normal things that everyone else does. Instead I was stuck in a room, and in a non-self-propel wheelchair, which meant I had to ask for someone to take me to the bathroom, instead of being able to take and transfer myself.” Callum was annoyed, but thought this was a minor hiccup, and after a four hour layover, boarded the second leg of his journey to get to Sydney.
Q: What’s the difference between a non-self-propelled wheelchair, and a self-propelled wheelchair?
A: In simple terms, the size of the rear wheels. Most airport wheelchairs have small rear wheels, which means the person who is using it has to rely on someone else pushing them to get around…
…Self-propelled wheelchairs have larger rear wheels with rails, which the user grips and pushes on to get around.
Upon arrival in Sydney, Callum was met at the aircraft with another airport wheelchair and a member of ground staff. Now there was less of a language barrier, Callum again told the ground staff that there were arrangements for him to be met by his own personal wheelchair. After a short discussion, he was then pushed to baggage reclaim, in the hopes that his chair would be on the carousel. After waiting for all the bags to clear, there was still no sign of his chair.
“I went to Lost & Found in the airport wheelchair, which I still couldn’t self-propel in, and showed them the barcode sticker receipt for my baggage which was stuck on the back of my passport, and was like ‘where is my wheelchair?
Callum’s questions were met with apologies as the staff tried to locate his wheelchair using the barcode. After a few minutes, there were answers: there was a miscommunication at Changi Airport (in Singapore). Whilst there were arrangements for his chair to meet him at the aircraft door, whilst it was making its way to him, he was already being taken towards the accessible lounge in the airport wheelchair. So, when his chair arrived at the plane and he wasn’t there to meet it, it was left in Singapore.
“My chair was still in Singapore, and I was in Sydney…”
Callum tells me that there was another flight from Singapore to Sydney, so thankfully they were able to put his chair on that flight, so it could meet him, “but that was another 12 hours I had to wait at the lost property desk.”
As he’d told me that he was in a wheelchair that he couldn’t propel himself in, I asked him what he did during those 12 hours - what he did if he needed to use a bathroom for example: “I just had to flag down the person at the lost property desk. And then they would radio to get someone who would then come and help me out. And it was pretty much a different person each time. It was like whoever was free, which is fine.” However, we then discussed that, if it were possible, it would have been better if he could be met by the same person at least a few times, so he didn’t have to explain the situation to the assistant everytime he needed help.
When his wheelchair finally arrived, Callum made his way to his hostel where he had a shower and went straight to sleep. He tells me that it wasn’t until a few days after that he started reflecting on what had happened.
A 25-hour-long journey had stretched beyond 38 hours due to the mishandling of Callum’s wheelchair.
Callum tells me that not having his chair makes him anxious, and that it’s like “wearing someone else’s shoes, or trying to walk everywhere without wearing any shoes at all.”
So what can airlines do better?
(here are Callum’s thoughts)
“Make sure all airport and travel-assisted wheelchairs are self-propelled, to make things easier for those who have that capability, to be more independent if they are not in possession of their own chair.”
“Wheelchairs are always the last thing to be stowed on the plane. It would make sense to have processes in place which mean wheelchairs are always first to be taken out of the cargo hold.”
“For wheelchairs to ALWAYS be labelled as FRAGILE”
“When I go to the cinema, I am always asked if I want to transfer from my chair to the cinema seat, or if I would like them to pop out the cinema seat, so I can sit in my wheelchair in the same spot. We all know that airline seats can be popped out so they can be replaced if they are faulty. Surely it would be possible to pop them out so wheelchair users can sit in their chairs for the duration of a flight? This would also mean that a lot less chairs would be damaged in transit.”
(We both acknowledge that, at present, this may represent a potential safety issue - but this is nothing that could not be solved with a little thinking around design.)
“There is no privacy or dignity when travelling with assistance arrangements. I have seen people with more severe disabilities than myself basically be treated like a piece of luggage whilst being transferred into their seats on a plane. It would be appreciated to even be taken to a quiet area by the gate to be transferred to another wheelchair.”
When things like this happen, how does it make you feel?
We talked about the effects of the pandemic on foreign travel, and how everyone is much more reluctant to travel overseas. This feeling is compounded within the disabled community, knowing that there are so many more elements to consider, and that there is the “potential for everything to be so much worse.”
Callum also tells me that going on holiday with larger groups of friends has been “really tricky.”
“I often get separated from them for whatever reason, because you have to go a certain way through security or go a certain way through border control. And then if there are delays, in terms of boarding, or in terms of my chair getting lost and or being damaged they are just left to kind of stand around.”
He says that, although these kinds of situations are helpful in some ways to illustrate to his friends the difficulties he has to contend with on a daily basis in terms of accessibility constraints, he is often left feeling like he is a burden, or an inconvenience, which would not be the case if the conduct of airlines was of a better standard.
But it isn’t all bad…
Since his trip to Australia, Callum professes he has gained a lot of experience travelling, and also has some tips for fellow wheelchair users that they may find helpful:
“I always travel economy, but once I flew club class, and was transferring out of my wheelchair at the door of the plane when the flight manager approached me and asked for the dimensions of my chair and if it folded down. They then told me that there was a wardrobe in the plane used for coats, and that my chair would fit. This meant that my chair was stored within the cabin and treated as hand luggage. When checking in, we are asked to provide the dimensions of our chairs. Since this flight, I have always asked at check-in if it is possible to store my chair in the cabin wardrobe. Obviously, this depends on the size of your chair, and isn’t always a possibility.”*
*(powered wheelchairs will almost always have to be placed in the hold)
“ALWAYS take pictures/videos of the condition of your wheelchair before you leave it to use as proof of damage. Take pictures again and if there is damage, REPORT BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE AIRPORT AT YOUR DESTINATION.”
In order to mitigate difficulties “make sure to get in touch with the airline to discuss your accessibility needs before you travel.”