I’m sure that’s what the beancounters want. Roughly speaking, more weight == more revenue as long as it’s not non-paying dead weight like someone’s wheelchair.
I suspect the issue here is the size and power rating of their chair batteries rather than the actual weight of anything. [speculation]Their Load Control for the outward flight were either not aware of the size of the batteries or made an error interpreting the rules, then Load Control for the return flight got it right. [/speculation]
Wouldn’t the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) apply here?
Cool.
I like how the piece starts with a cultural connection (surprising to some) between two cities: Dublin and Nashville.
Dangerous Goods requirements would trump that. It’s impossible to comment further without knowing specifics of the batteries, but you can’t just take any battery on an aircraft. Batteries in mobility aids have maximum Wh ratings for carriage in an aircraft. Specialised volt hockey chairs might exceed these ratings (but I don’t know, because that information isn’t provided in the article).
More weight means burning more fuel during the flight, which means loading more fuel before takeoff, etc. But they didn’t load more fuel, they took the two women off the plane.
I don’t know that they travel in the same chairs that they play hockey in. From what I’ve seen of other para-sports, I would guess not. Although chairs for sports would probably be designed for light weight and short usage cycles. Maybe the batteries in their travel chairs exceed the allowable ratings.
I think the article says that the same airline flew them home the next day. Whatever the problem was got solved pretty quickly.
IIRC, airlines are actually exempt from the ADA. There’s a different law, the Air Carrier Access Act, that covers airlines. I’m not sure what’s the differences are between the two laws.
Whether it’s their usual chairs or the sports chairs doesn’t really matter. Whichever they were travelling with (possibly both). It could be a weight thing I suppose, something as simple as having to book items over a certain limit and they didn’t know.
probably relevant here: IIRC, the size-limit for LiPo Batteries is 100Wh - which is roughly what you’d expect in a hoverboard (that kids mobility toy) … a wheelchair will probably trump that 
…
but that should be neither a surprise for the wheelchair user nor the staff ( I assume an e-wheelchair should be a fairly “daily” event for an airline)
The airline I fly for can take mobility aids with either two removable 160 Wh batteries or one removable 300 Wh battery. It happens fairly regularly. The specs for Volt Hockey chairs seem to have gruntier batteries than that (40Ah at presumably 24 Volts would be 960 Wh) but we don’t know if they were taking their personal chairs, if it was it a problem with their everyday chairs, or maybe it was just an unbooked oversized luggage issue that had nothing to do with the fact the luggage happened to be wheelchairs.
Are aircraft seats removed for the wheelchairs or are the chairs folded for storage?
The chair goes in the hold and the batteries are removed and placed in the cabin. The NOTOC, which contains a list of any dangerous goods or other special load (pets in the hold for example), has relevant information about the batteries including their location in the cabin.
the NOTOC makes sense. Do the chairs fold up or are they taking up space in the baggage compartment and may get bumped for their bulky size. If that’s the case it’s not a weight issue, but a bulked out belly issue. The cargo holds are going to be built up ahead of time and not likely to have space.
Depends on the chair. I haven’t heard of one being refused for weight or bulk but this is a different airline. The fact that their outbound flight was supposed to decline the chairs but didn’t suggests it’s not a physical handling issue but something rules based.
Just checked and Scandinavian Airlines do have a weight limit for mobility devices depending on the aircraft type. I guess they were just too heavy then.
Weight and size limitations for mobility aids
There are some limitations regarding size and weight of your mobility aid on different aircraft types.
Airbus 321NX (To/from Canada and US)
- Max. height 110 cm, width 60, length 154 cm
- Max. weight (kg) per colli: 80 kg
- Max. 2 per aircraft
319, 320, 32A, 32N, 320L
- Max. height 110 cm, width 130, length 154 cm
- Max. weight (kg) per colli: 250 kg
- Max. 6 per aircraft
A330 and A350
- Max. height 158 cm, width 146, length 143 cm
- Max. weight (kg) per colli: 250 kg
- Max. 14 per aircraft
333 / 343 / 359
- Max. size (cm): 153 x 115 x 163 cm
- Max. weight (kg) per colli: 149 kg
321
- Max. size (cm): 153 x 156 x 114 cm
- Max. weight (kg) per colli: 149 kg
B737
- Max. height 84 cm, width 94, length 70 cm
- Max. weight (kg) per colli: 250 kg
- Max. 3 per aircraft
736, 73G, 73H, 73W, 738
- Max. size (cm): 127 x 114 x 86 cm
- Max. weight (kg) per colli: 149 kg
AT7
- Max. size (cm): 95 x 70 x 140 cm
- Max. weight (kg) per colli: 200 kg
ATR72
- Max. size cm height 120, width 60, length 120 cm
- Max. weight (kg) per colli: 80 kg
- Max. 1 per aircraft
CR9, AR8, DH4, 223
- Max. size (cm): 180 x 85 x 65 cm
- Max. weight (kg) per colli: 80 kg
CRJ900/1000
- Max. size (cm): height 65 cm, width 94, length 70 cm
- Max. weight (kg) per colli: 80 kg
- Max. 1 per aircraft
E195
- Max. size (cm): Height 66 cm, width 91, length 110 cm
- Max. weight (kg) per colli: 80 kg
- Max. 2 per aircraft
Richard_Pearse, thanks for the research. the 80 kg wt is pushing the max a ground handler would have to deal with loading a belly. Any weight above that is likely going in the cargo bellies. I don’t know how the batteries are handled. Maybe they’re lead-acid batteries that are mostly harmless but lithium batteries are a different matter.
The FAA has reverted the meaning of NOTAM back to the historical “Notice to Airmen” from “Notice to Air Missions” because white men don’t like to think that women, trans, or non-binary people exist.
MuSt MenTiOn PeNiSeS aT AlL TiMeS tO DiSpLaY MasCuLiNiTy.
Losers.
Super Bowl Shootdown?
I just heard about it from someone I know but this is the only article I’m seeing on Google about it. I’ve never heard of this site before? Anyone know of them; are they legit or more like World Weekly News?
The latter.
Then nevermind.
It was just a model … and not close to the actual plane … but here’s: