Taking flight - Antoinette's travels in a powered wheelchair

After some time away from longer trips, Antoinette decided to jet away. But would travelling in a powered wheelchair make things difficult? Read on to find out.

I last left my small town in October and haven’t been anywhere except my local supermarkets in ages – I’m too fatigued, too tired of everything, too out of the loop. But I had the chance to go on holiday with my sons and one son’s partner, and I knew I had to get out of my comfort zone.

So on Thursday, my son Ramy and I walked/rolled to catch the train that my other son Omar and his girlfriend were on. I had a fully charged wheelchair but had to remove one of its two batteries, so it was going slower than usual.

We each had a backpack and cabin suitcase, and after a while, Ramy took my suitcase from me in frustration. I put my backpack between my feet when I’m in the wheelchair, so that was fine. We missed the train by two minutes, but there was another one along soon, and it took us to the next station, where we met them.

All the passengers were ready to board the train, and it was announced that the train would arrive at a different platform, across the bridge. Everyone ran up the stairs and over to the other platform, and I had to wait for the lift, slowly ascend, cross the (now empty) bridge, and wait for the other lift... but the train waited for me, so we did make it to Luton in enough time.

Several years ago, I started taking up the help for disabled people at the airport, when I was still walking with a stick and traveling to Scotland with my friend Liz. She said, “That is there for you, you know.” I had always thought it was there for people worse off than me, but no one ever complained, and they always moved me through so I didn’t need to queue - which took a lot of the hassle and fatigue away. In more recent years, I’ve used wheelchair assistance, but this was my first time using my own wheelchair.

The airport was easy. Because the three of them were traveling with me, the four of us went as a unit. They took us to the front of the security queue and through a priority aisle, and told me that we had to go to a certain gate an hour before my flight time. And that was it. 
 

We went to the designated gate to find it crammed with people in wheelchairs and went to the desk, where they said to find a spot and wait, and that they would get us when it was time. I felt uneasy, as there were dozens of us, and I wondered how they would know where each person was going – I always think I will have been forgotten.

As the flight time got closer and we started to see “Boarding” next to it on the board, we panicked a bit. I went back to the desk to remind them that I was there, especially as most people had already been taken to their flights. But they did know me, and said it wasn’t time yet. Then, finally, a man came over to escort us to our plane.

Due to my right leg not moving, I can do stairs that have railings on either side – though I have to do them step by step – and I had expected to be doing this. But they took us into a small carriage, where everyone sat down. I was asked to remove the battery from my wheelchair (which I then had to carry in my bag) and whether I had taken the wheelchair to check-in when I arrived at the airport – something I had forgotten to do.

Therefore, it had no label on it. This is an important step which I won’t forget again. The man took my passport and came back in five minutes with a label for the wheelchair and a copy of it stuck to my passport, in case the chair got lost.
 

This carriage was driven over to the back of the aeroplane and then raised so that we walked straight out of it through the back door and into the plane. The wheelchair was then placed in the hold, kept within feet of me at all times and unlikely to go astray – as we all know suitcases can.

At the other end, we waited for the other passengers to get off, and there were people waiting on a platform at the back door with my wheelchair for me (although it felt more like a forklift truck arrangement!).

I had put off flying with a wheelchair due to bad press I’d read about passengers being left on aeroplanes or wheelchairs being damaged or destroyed. But I had a positive experience.
 

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