Flying with a wheelchair? — Scope | Disability forum
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Flying with a wheelchair?

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BellaStartsHere
BellaStartsHere Community member Posts: 3 Listener
in Aids, adaptations, and equipment
Me and my friend are planning a trip to Disneyland Paris, and we are slightly worried about damages to wheelchair whilst in flight or them not actually getting to the plane. any suggestions to ensure this doesn't happen? have you had positive or negative experiences? flying with EasyJet as this is the only airline the Disney package will use.
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  • Matt_Scope
    Matt_Scope Scope Posts: 56 Pioneering
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    Hi @BellaStartsHere You may have noticed that the @Scope Twitter takeover today was from Navigate.  Part of that was a list of advice from myself about travelling with children and wheelchairs / Mobility aids.  The advice I gave there via jenna@scope is true of adults too.   Some basics are,     Turn up early,        Get your Chair parts labelled individually at check in, so there is less risk of them getting lost.  and..... Keep your wheelchair with you for as long as you can (I take mine into the body of the plane before transferring into the  aisle seat whenever possible), which it usually is as a manual chair user!   there are horror stories out there about equipment and chairs getting lost and broken and they are real concerns for all of us, but don't let it stop you travelling, I've taken probably 50+ flights mostly alone and I've yet to have a significant issue beyond being left on a plane for 40 mins after landing, which is just annoying!        That said, I am paranoid every time I fly that my chair will come out bent out of shape, so get insurance if its your own piece of kit.....but don't let it put you off flying.    



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  • Matt_Scope
    Matt_Scope Scope Posts: 56 Pioneering
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    @BellaStartsHere Regarding your airline,
    I've only flown easy jet once (return) and found then to actually be pretty good to deal with, I was pretty experience at finding my way through airports by this time though and I did need to be fairly pro active and have a plan, but if you know what works best for you and you make sure everything is labelled up etc, you should be ok. 
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  • April2018mom
    April2018mom Posts: 2,882 Disability Gamechanger
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    Hello

    It can definitely be done. Call or email the airline and ask about assistance at the airport. Are you bringing your own one or not? I have a son who is in a wheelchair. Last year we flew twice. Each time I sent off emails to the airline we booked plane seats with asking for assistance. I asked a few questions too.
    Check out this forum https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowForum-g1-i12336-Traveling_With_Disabilities.html
    When I was doing research, I found this forum very helpful. 
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