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Chairless in Arizona

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It has been a busier travel season this spring and my luck ran out on my trip to Scottsdale, Arizona. My colleague Mark and I were going to the National Seating and Mobility (NSM) annual sales meeting to show our products to all the Rehab Technology Suppliers (RTS) and educate them on the finer details about standing. I picked Mark up at his home and headed to the airport on such a nice day that it was a shame to leave Minnesota.

The last trip Mark and I took together was almost exactly a year ago and it was to attend the same meeting. Short story long, we did not make it to the conference last year. The power blew in the terminal we were supposed to fly out of and they rescheduled us to fly the next day. We called a couple of the sales reps already at the meeting and asked them to set up the booth for the next day. We got on the plane the next morning but ended up getting delayed and once we got to Memphis to connect to Nashville we missed our flight and would have missed the show if we got on the next flight. We decided it was better to fly back to Minnesota and called the same reps that set up our booth and begged them to man our booth. The barbeque was great at the Memphis airport so not all was lost.

This year was different, but not in a good way.

I was sitting on the plane day dreaming and waiting for takeoff when Mark said to me “did you hear that?” I said to him “hear what?” Apparently the Captain came over the intercom and said there would be a delay due to the belly door being damage by a wheelchair and it needed to be fixed before takeoff. The odds of it being my chair were high because I was the only one with their own wheelchair that boarded the plane. This was not good because the likelihood of the Accessible travel for wheelchair userschair not being damaged was slim. I had a similar incidence on a flight from Sydney to Singapore a few years ago and the chair lost that battle too.

The landing was picture perfect and there was no mentioned from the Delta flight crew nor the airport staff that helped me off the plane about a damaged wheelchair. They got me into the jetway and I attempted to position my chair to transfer into it and knew instantly that it was not right. It wobbled like it was ready to collapse. Upon further inspection we could tell at minimum that the one wheel was pretty much destroyed. Now what? They had to get me out of the jetway because the next crew was waiting to board. They found an airport chair for me to sit in. Once we got into the terminal I knew I had to act fast. I had a weekend of work ahead and needed something other than what I was sitting in. As soon as we got into the terminal I called our Arizona EasyStand rep and explained my predicament, it just so happened that he left his house two minutes ago and said he would turn around and bring a demo chair that would fit. What a unlucky and lucky day. He would meet us at the hotel and I could jump into the chair there.

We had to go to baggage and fill out paperwork to try to figure out what needs to be done about the chair. They talked about trying to fix it before I left Arizona but that was not going to happen. We went around and around about how, when, why and where it would get repaired and finally decided that the chair should be sent back to Minnesota to be fixed. Spending a weekend in a new wheelchair is like going to the Minnesota State fair in new shoes. It was not easy to get use to. Rick and Doug at Ki Mobility did a terrific job adjusting the chair and made it workable. I sent it back the following day after I returned home and started using a back up chair that I had.

The end of the story has not come yet. They said they were going send the chair to Minnesota to get repaired but failed to mention that I was to stop by the Delta service desk in Minneapolis and fill out some more paperwork. I told them I live two hours away so we would have to do it over the phone. We did and they sent it to some company called Scooter Round who then subcontracted the work to some other company. I get a lot of phone calls from Delta and the other companies but not a firm date of when the chair will be repaired. Not sure when I will see my chair.

I can only wonder what someone would have done that did not have connections to the industry. They offered me a chair in Arizona that would probably have required me to be pushed by someone else over any distances. It has been 10 days since my chair was wrecked. How long does Delta think is reasonable to go without your wheelchair? I will let you know the rest of the story when it happens.

Wheelchair Travel Resources:
“Life After SCI” Wheelchair Travel Tips Video
Traveling – An Adventure Worth Taking
What I learned From My Summer Road Trip

Have you experienced any similar challenges when traveling with your wheelchair? Or do you avoid traveling by airplane for this very reason?

The post Chairless in Arizona appeared first on EasyStand Blog.


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