Best and worst airlines for the disabled - give me your opinions!!

[politicat]

I'm going to be flying with a client from Raleigh Durham NC to Denver in July.

My client has severe physical disabilities, and is in transgender process. (If you can't cope with that idea, I don't wanna hear it. It's not your body or your life, nor is it your money.)

Tell me what airlines you've dealt with in dealing with disability issues, and how they've chalked up. Successes appreciated, as well as horror stories.

Thanks,

Politicat

[beyurslf]

1. I would hope that any airline would be accomodating to a ticket buying

passenger... I honestly don't know though. I have a friend who is with United. When he talks about his day he will occassionally mention having to do something to accommodate someone though.

[BurtWorm]

2. I just heard bad things about Continental, especially at the Newark hub.

Jetblue I've heard good things about--except that they turned over millions of their passengers' records to the FBI. I have heard they train their ground and air staff fairly well in disability issues.

[Snellius]

3. The best airline for the disabled is Amtrak

I'm not handicapped but I take Amtrak all the time. Even cross-country. And the train is really the only mode of public transportation that does anything to really accommodate the disabled. Amtrak even makes allowance for people on oxygen, which I don't think is allowed on airplanes.

[politicat]

5. That was our original intention, but my client smokes.

And he's very fragile right now. I can't ask him to do three days on a train without a cigarette when that is one thing that keeps him from going to pieces.

5.5 hours in a plane we can do with nic gum and nic patches and a drink or two and a smoke during the layover.

Amtrack changed their policies 3 weeks ago.

Thanks for the vote of support, though. I love Amtrak.

Best,

Pcat

[KamaAina]

4. They all suck.

My boss has had three scooters destroyed in the past year -- two in a row by Continental, the latter of which was their own rental they had to get her because they wrecked the first one! (Northwest totaled the other one.)

Oddly enough, the rock-bottom worst airport is Kahului, Maui, where a clueless interisland airline employee tried to charge the boss extra for boarding her scooter (!) and where intrusive pat-down searches of people using wheelchairs are de rigueur.

[politicat]

6. my self serving kick

:kick: