Flybyguy From United States of America, joined Jun 2004, 1791 posts, RR: 1 Posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 3803 times:
Hi All,
Just wondering how people who are wheelchair bound get into aircraft where stairs are the only means of boarding (i.e. commuter aircraft or airports without jetways).
I presume they would be carried on somehow, but aren't unionized airline company employees dis-allowed to lift anything (carry-on baggage, people, etc)?
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N328KF From United States of America, joined May 2004, 6225 posts, RR: 3 Reply 1, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 3799 times:
Flybyguy:
They go up the same lift that the galley carts do.
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Lparky From United States of America, joined Feb 2001, 166 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 3798 times:
my wife, being a rather large woman, has this occur when we fly to our paper mache shows. The airport personnel, not the airline people, lift her up the stairs.
Also, we normally get charged for the entire row of seats (3) when we travel due to her obesity and her paper mache art that she refuses to check
YVR2SAN From United States of America, joined Nov 2004, 62 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 3783 times:
"The airport personnel, not the airline people, lift her up the stairs."
Depends on the airline, when I was a gate agent we assisted wheelchair passengers onto the aircraft and once onboard we and the f/a's would assist the passenger into the seat using an aisle chair.
If there was not jetway and the use of airstairs was needed we had a electronic wheel chair lift that brought the pax upto the aircraft door.
HAWK21M From India, joined Jan 2001, 31228 posts, RR: 58 Reply 4, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 3769 times:
They use a similiar to Gallery Service Vehicle used for boarding such Pax.
The Wheelchair can be rolled in & out to Board & Deboard an Aircraft.
regds
MEL
Anair80 From Suriname, joined Oct 2000, 245 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 3757 times:
I saw in Curacao (CUR), that they lift wheelchair people with a fork lift that has a box attached to it. What an ugly box that was...! and how frightening it must have been for those using a wheelchair.
Anyways, our flight was late by 20-30 min..
But hey, I guess there was no other way...(at least at that moment)
UA772IAD From Australia, joined Jul 2004, 1639 posts, RR: 3 Reply 6, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 3758 times:
One time a KOA this was the case. Since they don't gates and UA operates large aircraft (763/772) to KOA, i wondered the same thing. But then when I was flying to SFO, we had an older woman in a wheelchair, who was capable of walking but not up the stairs to the 763's door. So, they put her in her wheelchair and into a scissor truck (like a galley truck), but has a window and is empty, presumably for PAX and equipment. She was raised to door 1R.
Lparky From United States of America, joined Feb 2001, 166 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 3749 times:
that's exactly how me and the missus boarded in CUR, she didn't like the lift at all. We go every year down to Bonaire, (she likes to paper mache flamingos, thats her specialty) and the sunlight is good for her varicose veins and we take a day to curacao to shop.
Anyways, I would love to get her aboard one in one of those sissor trucks, those sound great. What airport was that at?
Geoffm From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2004, 2111 posts, RR: 7 Reply 8, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 3688 times:
My uncle got lifted by two burly blokes at both ends - STN to somewhere around the Alps (can't remember... Zurich, Geneva, Austria somewhere... vague I know!).
Sllevin From United States of America, joined Jan 2002, 3376 posts, RR: 6 Reply 9, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 3675 times:
At SJC they use a forklift with a "Box" that it lifts that they roll the wheelchair into, lift up, and then up even with the "platform" at the top of the airstairs.
Of course, if you are using internal airstairs, that would work only if you retract the stairs and then have the forklift move up to the aircraft itself. Which would sound a bit like a good way to do a lot of damage to an airplane.
Flyboy1980 From New Zealand, joined Nov 2003, 253 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 9 hours ago) and read 3655 times:
The same is used here in New Zealand - a forklift with a platform attached that has 2 sides and a back, but the front is open (but usually has a seatbelt type thing across the front for safety).
The platform is raised to the door sill height and the person either comes into the a/c in an aislechair or if they can walk on flat surfaces, usually walks on board themselves. We often used to use it for older people who had problems with the steep steps of the airstair door on the ATR-72.
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From United States of America, joined Jun 2004, 1791 posts, 
From India, joined Jan 2001, 31228 posts, 
From Suriname, joined Oct 2000, 245 posts, 
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From New Zealand, joined Nov 2003, 253 posts, 
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