Checking wheelchair on plane

[Traveling Dot]

I just got a new transport chair for my husband and I do not have a transport bag for it (cost is more than the chair). We are flying Icelandair and they say the chair must be checked with the luggage. Can I take the footrests through security without a problem?:confused: Being they could come loose I don't want to leave them on the chair when I check it. I'm sure the chair will be fine but I worry about these little things. :eek:

[kitty9]

It may vary by airline, but we never had a problem with carrying mom's footrests onto the plane, and we did this on 6 different airlines, including non-US based airlines.

[DisneyKidsDad]

We always gate check my daughter's manual wheelchair. We push her in it right up to the door of the plane, then they use the straightback chair to get her to her seat. At our destination, we wait till they tell us her chair is in the jetway, usually we are the last ones off, they they straightback her to the jetway.

[sherilyn70]

I just got a new transport chair for my husband and I do not have a transport bag for it (cost is more than the chair). We are flying Icelandair and they say the chair must be checked with the luggage. Can I take the footrests through security without a problem?:confused: Being they could come loose I don't want to leave them on the chair when I check it. I'm sure the chair will be fine but I worry about these little things. :eek:

Are they saying checked at the time of your luggage or gate checking? those are two different actions. I rode my scooter through security and all the way to the gate. I always notified the attendants at the gate when I got there and then they'd pre-board me and take my scooter down to the plane. They would return the scooter back to me at the gate after we landed. The same should apply to your wheelchair.

[mexico8]

I just got a new transport chair for my husband and I do not have a transport bag for it (cost is more than the chair). We are flying Icelandair and they say the chair must be checked with the luggage. Can I take the footrests through security without a problem?:confused: Being they could come loose I don't want to leave them on the chair when I check it. I'm sure the chair will be fine but I worry about these little things. :eek:

 

I flew from Copenhagen to Toronto with Icelandair a few weeks ago and they made me check my TravelScoot with the luggage when I checked in. They provided a wheelchair and someone to push it to get to the plane. When I got off the plane there was someone with a wheelchair and I got the scooter in the airport near the luggage caroussel. (When I flew with Air Canada I was allowed to bring my scooter right to the door of the plane.)

 

Don't know about the foot rests and security - perhaps someone else can advise you about that.

 

Wendy

Edited June 19, 2014 by mexico8

[Chunky2219]

It's a pretty poor show if the airline insists you check a chair at check-in rather than at the air ramp. Personally, I'd refuse to swap my bespoke (and very expensive) chair for something twice as heavy that looks like it came out of a 1950's hospital and is anatomically wrong for me.

 

I'd pursue it in advance with Icelandair. But if they are insistent, I'd simply make sure that the foot rests are firmly attached with cable ties on to the chair. Tape some nail clippers on to the chair to cut the ties with at the other end. I do something similar with my spare pair of crutches.

 

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[DUTRAVEL]

I just got a new transport chair for my husband and I do not have a transport bag for it (cost is more than the chair). We are flying Icelandair and they say the chair must be checked with the luggage. Can I take the footrests through security without a problem?:confused: Being they could come loose I don't want to leave them on the chair when I check it. I'm sure the chair will be fine but I worry about these little things. :eek:

 

I haven't flown Icelandair, but on every airline I have flown I have taken my foot rests on the plane with me along with the wheelchair cushion. Under FAA rules, those item do not count as carry on luggage. I bring a foldable duffle bag to put them in to make them easier to carry.

[Piggeldy]

You should be able to take the footrests through security. However, try to get them to gate check the wheelchair instead of checking it in with the luggage... we had to do that with a friend's wheelchair years ago, they "forgot" to pick us up at the gate and made him walk all the way to the connection (which we would have missed if it hadn't been cancelled anyways) and then KLM left it behind im Amsterdam because they had too much luggage for the connecting flight and obviously thought leaving a wheelchair behind was a reasonable idea :o It took three days to catch up with us, fortunately we were on our way home.

 

If they make you check it with the luggage and it's foldable, cable ties are your friend, so is velcro. Attach everything that could come off as well as you can.

[Erex]

Only once were we stupid enough to allow the airliner to talk us into checking the wheelchair at the check in. We were told that someone would push her and everything would be OK.

She got a chair with 4 small wheels without any way to move her self. Someone came and pushed her to the gate and left. And there she sat. No way to get to the toilet and so on.

After that, they have never been able to talk us into leaving the chair any other place than the gate.

 

The biggest challenge now a days is actually at the arriving end. It can be very difficult to get the chair back at the gate and regularly we pick it up at the luggage area.

This seems to depend a bit on who is flying and we're we fly.