When 55 passengers board a single flight using wheelchairs, that’s tough not to notice. But when only 25 need assistance getting off the plane at their destination, it starts to look like 30 people requested assistance just to get priority board, plus maybe assistance through the security line at the airport.
And since this is a Southwest Airlines flights, wheelchair assistance means getting on board in front of those with an “A” boarding group – ahead of people who paid the highest fares and have the highest status. That means having first choice of seats on the aircraft.
A friend shares a not-uncommon sight from Puerto Rico:
55 "handicapped" during pre-boarding, including 25 wheel chairs
On his return flight, 15 used wheelchairs to board, only 1 to deboard pic.twitter.com/gHgIsnzsq7
— Bachman (@ElonBachman) February 19, 2023
Some unscrupulous people request wheelchair assistance at the airport when they don’t need it, using their ‘injury’ for a whole bunch of benefits:
- Early boarding gets them access to overhead bin space before other passengers, and avoids being forced to gate check bags.
- It also gets around basic economy restrictions at United which are enforced by boarding group, netting a free carry on bag.
- On Southwest they’d have their choice of seats on board.
- Plus help skipping security lines.
At the same time, some flights are going to have a lot more wheelchairs than others. Governor Ron DeSantis calls Florida “God’s waiting room” and travel in and out of South Florida at heavy leisure times is likely to see a lot of passenger assistance. The presence of wheelchairs alone doesn’t mean that someone is faking the need for service.
Moreover, more passengers getting assistance onto the aircraft than getting off doesn’t on its own mean that somebody is ‘faking it’. The long waits for assistance, making it difficult to get help, can mean choosing not to wait even when it would be better for someone to do so. Plus you’re going to want to get up and move around after sitting in a coach seat for the full flight.
Nonetheless a 15-to-1 ratio of passengers using wheelchairs to get onto a plane (and getting priority assistance) versus getting off (and having to wait for service) seems… suspicious?
Sometimes passengers even admit it. One man on TikTok shows how he fakes an injury to get priority screening from the TSA and then assistance through the airport.
And here’s a man who filmed himself pretending to have sprained his ankle at the Bodrum Airport. He saw huge lines and was worried he’d miss his flight, and wound up pushed in a wheelchair through the airport and to his seat. He was even given his own row on board so he could stretch out. After the flight – it was a miracle – he could walk!
Remember that wheelchair assistance can be both costly and in short supply, if you ask for wheelchair assistance when you don’t need it you’re taking away that help from someone else or making someone that does need it wait even longer. The head of London Heathrow airport even blamed problems there on passengers asking for wheelchair assistance when they don’t need it given the shortage of workers to help. That’s no ok.
I won’t fly southwest ever again. Not only did the fakes get on first, one takes the isle seat and the other the window. That gets them the row to themselves in most cases. We paid an extra $725 to board early and ended up in the middle of the plane. I wrote to SW and no response. They don’t care. I’m disabled and willing to pay for the help but I won’t cheat to get it.
To be quite frank with you this aggrevates me. This is why I say we can never have nice things. Riddle me this. Think of these two situation; a bunch of impatient folks sitting in wheelchairs acting like some victim of pain, And people bringing their pets onboard a plane and calling them an emotional support so their pet get get a ride for free. What do they have in common? People dinging up and ruining the opportunity for those who really need these type of services to a point of the airlines taking action. This trend is going to end up putting these airlines on another point to charging another fee to cover the cost whether you are legit or not. Most of us absolutely hate waiting for gate agents or tsa to handle their business and let us through but it doesn’t mean finding these loopholes and screwing it up for those who have a legitimate problem…stop abusing the system people come on!
Wow. So many haters who do not know what they are talking about. I am amazed that there are those who want to punish people who need handicap services. I need a wheelchair to & from gate due to painful back issues. I can walk short distances— sometimes walking from baggage claim if short distance (other times you see the wheelchair to car service), walking to restroom in the gate area, and certainly when in the aircraft. I cannot stand in a line due to severe pain. While I am 82, I do not look frail or disabled and I would give anything not to need the wheelchair. Most of us also tip the airport worker who is pushing the wheelchair – – I tip $20 each time I am pushed. Perhaps there are a few who abuse the system, but most of us have legitimate needs & travel is very exhausting as a result.
May Karma bite the abusers in the ass one day.
This is why we cannot have nice things
Since they are checking ID they should look at the age factor. We seniors need our own section over 60s. Some do need assistance
When everyone requests a wheel chair then there will be no advantage to it. Encourage every passenger to request a chair. Maybe the airlines will become more careful about the situation presented-like your teacher was when you couldn’t make it to school and a dr;s note was required for an excused absence. If the airline responds to the challenge by raising the fare or imposing a handicapped fee-so wrong!
Right now obese persons can request a 2nd seat for free on Southwest-at least last I checked that was the policy. Those who cannot control their girth are awarded an unfair privilege while skinnies have to endure being cramped . Same thing with those who request handicapped status when they are not handicapped. Why should they be granted more privileges than anyone else?
For all you skeptics out there, I am also a healthy looking middle-aged person who requires wheelchair assistance anytime there is a long walk in the airport. I suffer from a neurological disease that hampers my ability to stand in line for long periods of time and on many occasions it is also very difficult for me to walk long distance. So, While I may look to the naked eye as a healthy person, my disability is something that I suffer from on a daily basis!!
. I often cannot drive a car nor do some of the basic things you all take for granted .
And while it’s true, a short walk to the bathroom is something that I usually can do, it’s those long agonizing walks in the airport and waiting time in the lines especially at security , which I am incapable of doing.
So please I beg of you , before you are quick to judge someone just based on their looks from the outside, many of us suffer from internal injuries or diseases that are never noticeable to the naked eye.
And yes I would much rather not be in my situation, requiring help anytime I fly, and have the freedom of walking around the airport like all you guys have. So please have a kind eye regarding our situation and I wish only the best of health for all of you out there.
(And by the way, I always try to apologize and thank those in front of me that I may have to cut ,in order to board first, to show my empathy that I must cut the line due to my physical disability.)
TSA checking ID anyone over 60 should have a section for wheelchair assistance. It’s hard to get around especially from one gate to another. Only limited time to get there
I use a wheel chair to get on any flight whether I have a seat assigned or not. Southwest is the best. I fly regularly and need the special treatment as I am 84 years young, have lack of ability to walk long distances. Just think, LaGuardia,Airport, Ft Lauderdale Airport. The distance from car drop off to gate is a long walk. Thank you Southwest for being patiently and understanding. I do use chair to get off and glad to provide a nice gratuity to pusher in each direction.
I worked at Miami International Airport over 40 years. Especially in south Florida , and flights to and from the northeast, lots of older people request wheelchairs and most do need it. But they’re not in the majority.
I have to disagree with ”Sam” above; the legitimate wheelchair requests are often outnumbered by the opportunists. I’ve met flights with 50 or more wheelchair requests on arrival. After the flight offloaded, we ended up using maybe 10 or 15 chairs.
It happens all the time, not unusual. Nothing you can do about it, if you question them at all they will scream harassment and ADA violation and then you have a bigger mess.
For many, the physical limitation is standing or slow walking, so it makes sense that some would need assistance getting on but not off. I’ve only recently started flying again after a 20 year break and I do everything I can to avoid getting into a painful situation that will ruin my trip. I’ve bought global entry, get there early, etc. But sometimes I need help and I absolutely hate needing it because I pushed my elderly mother in a Wheelchair for the last years of her life and I KNOW there are people worse off but I can’t help that my knees are bone on bone and some days are good and some are really bad.
My mother-in-law used to be one of those who boarded with a wheelchair but got off without one–completely legitimately. There were two factors at work:
1) It wasn’t so much the distance that mattered as the up time. Standing in the security line was the main reason she used a chair. She also had an issue with the security scanner–going through it unassisted was problematic and security would never permit someone to help her. (This was before the imaging scanners, she would have been completely unable to use them.)
2) There’s no plane to catch getting off. Having to stop and rest more than expected doesn’t translate into a missed flight.
There are a lot of people like her for whom the issue is too much, not possible/impossible. She tried to do as much as she could herself.
I do agree the whole thing is problematic but I don’t know a good solution. She had a handicap placard which would go a long way towards proving she was legit, but then there’s the time my wife was injured, riding in a chair saved her a lot of pain but it was a temporary situation, no handicap placard.
You will be judged by how you look. People will never understand your disability. Two weeks ago I was in a wheelchair after having a recent knee replacement. The comments were unbelievable . Passengers acted like I was deaf. No I am not young and strong, and I shouldn’t be walking. You cannot look at someone and determine if they are able to walk or know their pain level.
Not everyone in a wheelchair is a fraud.
You should check flights where there are a lot of Indian passengers. All Indian parents seems to be invalid when it comes to boarding. You should see them gallop to the immigration counters without any issues. Wheelchairs should be for people who genuinely deserve them and not be used as a matter of convenience.
Easy solution: If you pre-board, you must wait for everyone else to deplane before you leave your seat. All the fakers will lose much if the incentive. Problem solved.
The lack of empathy on here is quite sad. Y’all should be ashamed of yourselves. Not every disability is visible. Quite frankly it’s none of your damn business.
I’m almost 80 and would much rather sit with crying children than whiney seniors or scary people who have to have their dog with them. But the worst of all is semi drunks who are always loud, have bad breath, and are usually in the 21 to 50 age range
It amazes me how few people understand how disabilities work. Not everyone has a visible disability. Some people can’t stand for long time periods but can walk, others are the opposite. The amount of standing/walking required to get from the entrance of an airport to the gate is very different than the amount needed to leave. Not to mention differences in airport size, gate location, etc.
I’m not saying all of these people had legitimate needs for the wheelchair service, but be cognizant that people who look healthy or able-bodied, or only need accommodations in one leg of their trip, may very well need that wheelchair.
You forgot to mention that 1/2 of them bring their dog or 2 along making the staff have to deal with the passenger,their bags and their animals…
This is frustrating to see. My husband is a veteran and we travel with our own mobility chair. We need an extra few minutes to get him and the chair boarded. The crew allows us to board 1st so there’s space to maneuver. Then I have the fakers trying to pass us in pre boarding. I use to feel guilty for asking if our teens could boad with us 1. So they could help things go quicker and 2. So we could still sit by each other. That was until we experienced 10+ chairs on boarding and only us having a chair on arrival.
Seriously unreal.
This is Southwest fault, and the result of the cheap ways it operates. If it were to have assigned sitting, only people with legit needs would ask for additional assistance. There would be not much to gain from gaming the system.
This helps prove the abundance of people in America who claim hardship are assumed fakes until proven otherwise. Includes minorities and homeless. There is almost no legal way anymore to disprove a fake. Very pathetic.
Thankyou ACLU
Just stay home and start eating healthy! Why travel like a victim!
I’ve been on WN ‘Miracle Flights’. They have to be seen to be believed. That’s when a passenger has to be put on a wheelchair to board and deplane the flight. Then they are wheeled over to luggage pickup. When their bag comes up to them on the luggage ramp, they jump off the wheelchair, grab their bag, and walk out of the airport. A Miracle!
So to get wheelchair and priority boarding, you just have to say you need it? Is a doctors note not required?? I ask this because, my friend had knee surgery. She was weeks out post-op but was still in a brace and on crutches. We were going to a concert. She had to supply doctors note to give her access to a handicap area, which was safer no steps. It allowed for 1 person in her party to accompany her. The rest of our party had to wait in line and go to our purchased seats.
So I am not against anyone using the service, if needed. I do think there should be some regulating such as a doctors note. But just my opinion for all it’s worth.
I do use Southwest and travel at minimum once per month. I have seen an increase in preloading with wheelchairs. When I start getting pushed to the back half of the plane due to no seats available with my A boarding. I will then start giving my monthly money to another airline so I can guarantee a seat.
The solution is extremely easy- the airlines just need to enforce if you get on with one, you get off with one! No ifs ands or butts. It’s all due to safety of the passenger. This issue goes way in about 5 minutes.
I have an easy solution. Wheel chair users are the last to be escorted from the plane.
Seat them all in the back of the plane. That will stop the fakers.
For the last five years both my knees have been bone on bone and yes I have used the wheelchair assistance at the airports. I have now had both knees replaced and look forward to not having to use that assistance any longer. I used to get all kinds of looks from people that didn’t think I was worthy of that assistance and it always made me feel even worse. I now have a card to show at the TSA check in so that they know I have two titanium knees now which will cause me to take longer to go through security which will slow the line down some but I am so excited to be able to walk myself to the gate and onto the planes again.
Handicap spaces make sense in parking lots…not so much on airplanes. Why not have the slow and sickly (or the families with children) get on last, not first?
As many have pointed out already, there are people who can’t handle the extensive walking or standing in line at the airport. My daughter, thanks to long-covid, is now one of them. It’s a crapshoot whether or not she can handle a 30 minute trip to the grocery store or the mall on a given day, let alone walking and standing in line for up to 2 hours. Every six months, we have to fly across the country for medical appointments and she gets a few nasty looks and a lot of curious glances. To most people, she looks like a healthy teenager, but she’s just good at hiding her pain. We tried one flight without the wheelchair assist (before we knew it was available) and it was brutal for both of us. Sometimes she doesn’t need a chair on exiting the flight; like when we are on a layover and the connecting flight is at a nearby gate or the time we met up with her friend and their flight came in an hour after our flight (but the walk to baggage claim that time was hard and she had to stop and rest a few times along the way). Just be careful not to judge, because you have no idea what a particular person is dealing with.
Jetway Jesus as we like to say. Heals many passengers that were wheeled in so they can walk out after they land.
As an A list member with southwest this is actually disgusting to see, if you need a wheel chair no problem but those that are using this to scam need to be stopped. We pay extra for boarding first and if the wheel chairs Need assistance they should get it but how about putting them behind the A listers that have paid their money to be able to board first. They can go right after, they will still receive assistance, they will still get on the plane just not first. Problem solved
Used to fly between JFK and Lagos, Nigeria. Always watched 30+ wheelchairs in pre-boarding. Almost all walked off at the destination. We called it the angel flight as miracles occurred on every trip.
How about if those using a wheelchair have them wait in line at TSA and boarding if they can walk a short distance, they can walk a short distance from the boarding gate to the plane aswell they can wait in line at TSA and go through security like everybody else does just sit in your chair
Pre boarders should be limited to the last rows. If there’s 2, last row, if there’s 30, last 5 rows…. problem solved
In the airline industry, we refer to this as the Jetway Miracle, when all the passengers have left the plane, yet there are 5 wheelchair attendants standing there, waiting for the 5 passengers who ordered a wheelchair for their flight, but who somehow no longer needed assistance once the plane door was opened. (Meanwhile, a legitimately impaired person is waiting for a wheelchair at another gate.)
Ppl bare no shame especially when this type on behavior .That is why I carry my paperwork…they gone feel some type of way when disabled paperwork is requested…it is a crime and shame no nonsense people.do this.
Ragebait. LOL
This is why I avoid flying att all costs. The last time I flew was for a death and I didn’t have time to drive to the funeral. I need a wheelchair to board and depart. I have had 80 surgeries. I am only 63 so people see my face and assume I should be able bodied.
I have to deal with pat downs because I am unable to lift my arms up for the scanner. The last time I flew the agent almost ripped my Ostomy Bag off and insisted that I explain WHY I needed it in front of everyone! I always end up waiting for a wheelchair to leave the plane. Last time the pilot was the last to leave and I was STILL waiting!
It’s time to make it easier for those who are really disabled and stop the people who clearly aren’t.
I have copd and i need a wheel chair assistance and i truly do appreciate the service. If i did not have copd and pulmonary arterial hypertension i surely would not ask. Last flight i was on thinking i could walk to claim baggage i had bronchitis and the lady sitting next to me requested i have help because i could barely breathe when we landed as i was scared to ask. Thank God for her because as i would of passed out because i could not breathe.
I thought this only occurred in two places Hawaii and The Philippines? I guess Puerto Rico is #3.
Yes I get a wheelchair because I cannot stand in one place for an hour because of back issues. I would not mind if I boarded last. What is the point of going first? I am already sitting. Southwest cattle call excepted….
Another reason why I do not fly!!! I used to love flying, but that changed in 2001. I will not deal with all of the rules to fly now.
Please.
Who are these Frequent Fliers that are in wheelchairs each week? If you are immobile, then maybe flying is not the frequent habit for you?
Yes. ADA has a ton of access at Hospitals and Recovery Centers.
But- come on?!
Require a DMV disabled placard for early boarding
Charge extra for wheelchair support and for emotional animals. It will stop the abuse, you will see less people requesting wheelchair support or they stupid animals. It you are that’s messed up that you need a animal to comfort you stay home with your animal. Yes I don’t care if you like my comment.
Maybe in order to board early in a wheelchair, a person needs a letter from a doctor?
They need to stop this wheelchair thing unless you really need it. People are incredibly selfish and disrespectful these days.
To me in general have those that need wheel chair assistance show proof with a medical certificate with expiration date and no need for their whole family to go with them only only family member should be enough.
And it’s true when it’s time to leave the plane they are the first ones standing
A miracle I can walk look no assistance,mainly you see all airlines accepting this practice
Travelers let’s start filming this people the minute you see them getting off their cars.