Hi all,
There’s a chance I may have to fly next year, to present at a conference. The problem is that I need to travel in my own wheelchair–I cannot just transfer to a regular seat. Also, I’m on a ventilator.
Is it even possible to fly n this condition? I did a search for information, but nobody really mentions this possibility.
If it is impossible to transfer you to one of the seats, I don’t believe you’ll be able to fly commercial.
Here’s a website I found with some tips.
Yeah, that’s one of the sites I found. Like I said, I can’t find anywhere that adresses my situation, even with an explicit “No!”
There’s just no room to maneuver a wheelchair in most standard airplane configurations.
You would get inside the airplane door and then be stuck.
They have to use a specialized super-skinny wheelchair to get people to their seat or to the bathroom and back that fits between the aisles.
ETA: I’m not an airline employee or anything though. Just a road-warrior who has seen a lot.
Your best bet is to contact the airline you will be flying with, and start getting the information you need from them and from your doctor in order to arrange for this flight.
I have never seen nor heard of a regular passenger aircraft which allows passengers to remain in their wheelchairs for the flight, since wheelchairs aren’t crash-rated the way an airline seat is. What is typically done is the passenger will be brought on board before anyone else is, aided to an airline seat and the wheelchair will either be folded up and stored in a cabin closet (if possible) or stored in the hold and brought back to the cabin immediately when the plane lands. Certain types of battery-powered wheelchairs require the batteries to be disconnected and transported in a certain manner, since the batteries are considered to be hazardous materials and are handled as such. If your situation is such that you need more than one seat’s worth of space, there’s a chance you’ll have to purchase the ticket for the other seat - that’s an airline-specific thing, though.
You can fly on an airplane with a ventilator, however it will need to be a type that is approved by the civil aviation authority of your country (I see you’re in Australia, so that would be CASA). For security screening, if you can’t be disconnected from the ventilator in order to have it x-rayed, that’s another issue you’ll need to address with documentation from your doctor, and possibly to pre-arrange a security inspection rather than risk surprising and unprepared and uninformed agent. I think thismight be a good place to start looking for information on that.
Contacting your airline might get a lot of this done for you; it’s in their interests to help you get everything arranged and get you on board in order for them to take your money. Hereis the information page from Qantas, if you think that’s who you will be flying with.
Good luck!
Thanks, mnemosyne, for the great pointers. I’ll definitely follow those up.
You will likely have to travel over the ground.
I am in a similar situation - I am also a wheelchair user and on a vent.
I have flown many times including once since being put on the vent. The quick answer to your question is unfortunately no. As far as I know, commercial airlines simply don’t have the capabilities to allow you to stay in your wheelchair during flight. There is nowhere in the cabin for a wheelchair - it is stowed underneath and you must transfer to the seat.
As far as the vent goes, it depends on the type of vent, what batteries it uses (and how long they last), and if your airline will allow it on board. I suppose it will also depend on what country you are flying from/to. When I flew with my vent, it was inter-country - Calgary to Winnipeg. Airport security had a few questions about the vent’s weight and battery type but beyond that it wasn’t much of an issue really. Flying to the States might be more difficult however as they are much more strict about what is allowed through security and on board.****
Every air carrier will have their own rules, so be sure to contact them first to find out what their policies are.
Good luck, private message me if I can help further.
In the USA, check out your rights under the Air Carrier Access Act. The law applies to foreign airlines that fly in/out of the US, too.
More info here —> http://www.dotcr.ost.dot.gov/asp/airacc.asp
Keep in mind you also have responsibilities to the airline in order to protect your rights, before you fly, as well as when you fly.
Australia to China via land isn’t an option. (Any land bridges disappeared some time ago.)
So what about custom seating placed in the cabin seat? My guess is that’d be an even bigger safety issue.
Thanks again to everyone for the pointers and information.
Custom seating is possible. I remember seeing an episode of the BBC series Airport that showed the queen taking a commercial flight to Australia. I think this was the first time she flew commercial. But they took over the first-class cabin and she had her own “furniture” for the flight. So it’s possible, but I suspect very expensive.
Well, I’m not expecting to buy all the seats. 
But that may be my best bet.
I’m not sure how you’d ever get HOME but here’s how to get from Australia to China:
Behold!
Might take awhile but I bet you’d have a swell time!
That could work. I might be stuck on a cruise for eternity, but that’s OK. It’d be like watching The Love Boat for a year straight.
Isn’t that what airplanes do?
Hey, I’ve been on the Diamond Princess for a cruise. (Not the one from Australia to China, I hasten to add.) It’s a great ship.
I’ve sailed Princess too on a different ship, and it was top notch. Too bad there’s not a return trip, as an interior room on the Diamond Princess is actually pretty reasonable when you consider it’s over 3 weeks of included food and service. They’re very accommodating to people in chairs, too.
The ship actually does return to Australia after about 8 months in the fall of '11, when it sails from Singapore back to Sydney, on another 2+ week voyage for around the same amount of money.
If there’s no treadmill handy.
I’m picturing the scene from Naked Gun 2 1/2 with the wheelchair silhouetted against the moon ET style.
If it’s custom in the sense of seat cushions, neck supports, etc, then it should be acceptable, but anything more rigid or larger than that might be a problem. A lot of people bring pillows and lumbar rolls (and teddy bears!) onto planes all the time, and small pillows are often provided by airlines, so things of that nature are fine. In the event of severe turbulence,an attitude upset or an emergency landing, while they may become projectiles in the cabin, they are soft enough to not be a safety risk. If you’re talking about custom seating involving stiffer components, then I suspect the airline will want to be assured that it can be fastened to the seat in such a way that it would not come loose if an incident were to occur. Most airlines, for example, only allow certain types of approved child seats to be used precisely because of this risk.
Again, your best bet is to call your airline directly and ask to speak to someone who can evaluate your specific needs and find a solution that will work for you.
I haven’t seen this show, but her own “furniture” may have simply involved re-covering the existing seats with the Queen’s logo or whatever. That’s what happens with a lot of sports teams. I suppose it’s possible that they had specific seats manufactured, tested and installed for her comfort, but the cost must be pretty high for that and the seats would still have to comply with existing regulations, so I doubt they’d be very different than the existing ones. Could be, though!