Written by Zach Wichter, USA Today, July 28, 2023
Veronica Morris told USA TODAY it’s a good thing her wheelchair was “obviously destroyed” during her recent American Airlines flight. Due to the extent of the damage to her chair, Morris was able to get it replaced through an expedited process.
Morris, 42, who uses a wheelchair due to arthritis, was flying from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Philadelphia on June 16 and said she was notified of the damage before even getting off the plane.
“Somebody came up to me and they were like, ‘your chair has been damaged so a supervisor is going to come up and speak to you and we’ll bring your chair to you,’ ” she said. “The supervisor came with my chair and the seat was entirely missing and one wheel had been sheared off, completely sheared off, it was dangling by wires.”
Morris said she considers herself fortunate that she has some mobility even without her wheelchair, but added that she was unable to get a suitable loaner during her stay in Philadelphia and that made the trip more stressful. She said it took almost two weeks for a loaner that met her needs to be sourced, 29 days to receive her replacement.
American Airlines acknowledged the incident in a statement.
“We appreciate how important it is for customers who use mobility devices to maintain their independence when they fly with us. A member of our team has been in touch with the customer and apologized for any inconvenience,” the airline said.
Morris said American gave her credits toward future flights.
She was able to get a new chair fairly quickly through Global Repair Group, which contracts with American Airlines for wheelchair repair and replacement. But Morris said she found the process frustrating and feels the speedy timeline was more a function of luck than an actually efficient system.
“My individual contact was calling me every day and she’s been really on it, but the system is broken,” Morris said. Initially she was told that it was going to take a matter of weeks for her chair to be assessed by a technician, but after seeing the pictures, her Global Repair Group representative was able to speed things up.
“I’m upset about it but I’m also happy that I was able to get somebody who could do something like say ‘a month is a wild amount of time to wait for an assessment, so we’re just going to replace your chair,’” Morris said. “The system should not rely on heroic individuals.”
Morris hopes that in the future airlines will make it possible for wheelchair users to fly with their devices in the cabin.
“Airplanes are the only form of transportation that you can’t be with your wheelchair. There’s no reason you should be separated from your legs and your legs put under the plane while you fly,” she said.
In the meantime, she said friends have told her that lightly bribing the ground crew can lead to better outcomes when the wheelchair is loaded in the cargo hold.
“Next time I fly I am buying candy bars and taping them all over that sucker,” she said.
How common is mobility equipment damage in air travel?
According to the Department of Transportation, airlines “mishandle” on average about 1.5% of the mobility equipment they transport. In 2022, that translated to 11,389 incidents reported by U.S. airlines, up from 7,239 in 2021.
This year, USA TODAY wants to highlight what those figures mean for travelers with disabilities. We’re looking to track these incidents throughout 2023 with the goal of bringing light to an all-too-common problem.