So the New York Times digs into a phenomenon where a few healthy people fake the need to use a wheelchair so they can get through security lines faster and get to board first!
Quote: So it may be an expected, if uncomfortable, fact that some travelers appear to exploit perhaps the only remaining loophole to a breezy airport experience — the line-cutting privileges given to people who request airport wheelchairs, for which no proof of a disability is required.
The practice, tacitly endorsed by a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy from wheelchair pushers, who sometimes receive tips, is so commonplace that airport workers can predict spikes in wheelchair requests when security is particularly backed up, and flight attendants see it so often on certain routes — including to the Philippines, Egypt and the Dominican Republic, for which sometimes a dozen people in wheelchairs will be waiting to board — they’ve dubbed them “miracle flights.”
“We’d say there was a miracle because they all needed a wheelchair getting on, but not getting off,” said Kelly Skyles, a flight attendant and the national safety and security coordinator for the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents American Airlines attendants. “Not only do we serve them beverages and ensure their safety — now we’re healing the sick.”
All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening.
FI642 From Monaco, joined Mar 2005, 1056 posts, RR: 2 Reply 1, posted (7 months 2 weeks 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 2312 times:
A friend of mine has been using this "trick" for 20 years. She worked in Aviation in the 70's and 80's.
Now that she actually needs to do this, she doesn't feel guilty any more.
737MAX, Cool Planes for the Worlds Coolest Airline.
Birdwatching From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 3573 posts, RR: 52 Reply 3, posted (7 months 2 weeks 5 days 3 hours ago) and read 2056 times:
So am I paying for these people with my wheelchair levy that is included in airfares or is this something else?
Soren
All the things you probably hate about travelling are warm reminders that I'm home
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From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 906 posts, 
From Monaco, joined Mar 2005, 1056 posts, 
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