Sounds like a copy and paste email to me. And that whole wheelchair thing really pisses me off. Luckily I’ve only had two experience it once after I got a plane to America.

Poor Clifford, sounds like he’s having a rough day lol!

Yep soooooo familiar with that.
Get offerd them all the time at airports.
Funny how so menny peopll don't know that blind or visualy impaird just meens not able to see all that wel or at all.

Also... not knowing your name... really?
That's just sad.

I'm a very, very frequent flier. As my vision deteriorates, my airport experience does as well. And it varies very much around the globe.

Generally, US/Canada are awful, while Europe is better but not always great. Remember, unlike the US, these are relatively decently paid positions, and there is no tipping.

My general complaints are

- always insisting on a wheelchair, and when I explain that I walk, just need verbal guidance etc they tend to get fed up or even angry

- people with zero training on how to guide someone. In Germany the airports work with the blind association for training, and whilst some of the staff are pretty bad, some are very good, and others just really try hard which I appreciate.

- having to wait to be the last; as a top tier flyer in premium cabins, I'm used to cutting off a lot of my travel day, and if I exit first, am frustrated that my layover is cut off completely because I have to wait 20-30 minutes for assistance. Again, in Germany, sometimes if one arrives at a 'bus gate', they'll have a van to transfer to the gate, or to the next flight, completely bypassing the need to walk the terminal. But I want to have an option. Sometimes I want to stop to buy something, or go to the bathroom, etc and it's shocking how many (mostly North American) staffers refuse that. I've just thrown up my hands, and used BeMyEyes to get around if they refuse to allow me to stop for a pee break

- staff who refuse to allow lounge access. I 'paid' for it, I earned it, and I want it (ok, Canada/US lounges suck, but rest of world are often great) In Germany, they take you to the lounge, and pick you up later

- people who think that VI = cannot see at all, and think that we are faking if we can see something

- people who get lost and don't know their workplace. I had a staffer who could not find passport control and wouldn't listen to me when I guided her, and took me on an extra 2km journey in circles, which ate up about 20 minutes

- people who refuse to listen to our needs. Ask how they can best help us, and then try and do that. If I say that I am completely blind on one side, then please don't insist on walking on that side

- people who cannot distinguish right from left, and who don't give any verbal cues, or say 'oh, that's a step' after I trip, or don't understand why escalators are an issue

I actually had one of the major carriers call me a few weeks ago, after a young but keen staff member realised that I had some very valid points. I appreciate that they wanted to know my experience, but am not sure how much that will trickle down.


Great post, Clifford!

I’m going to take a wild guess and say that this is LAX based on the crab experience I had last time. Yeah, airports just bring out the wheelchair every single time. It’s infuriating

I had an airport staff aid once drop me off at the wrong gate and I missed my flight entirely! I was able to get rescheduled for free after verbally throwing hands. They wanted me to pay originally and I told them to fuck off with that noise. It’s not my fault that YOUR aids can’t do their job correctly.

I also get the wheelchair one frequently and have experienced them being annoyed / mad if I refuse. The aids also never? Let me get food or go the bathroom and just take me directly to the gate then tell me to not leave or I’ll miss my flight.

Thanks, not like I’m here at 6am or anything. (Sarcasm)

My best experiences have been with the Dallas airport, the head of the airport aid is actually trained properly on low vision / blind help and trains the others as well. Amazing experience!

Yup get the wheelchair any time I check a box. Normally I do it just so I can get on plane first to not hit people in face finding my seat.


Did get a good person at Seattle Airport though. He was like "ah you ain't gonna need a wheelchair are you?" When he saw me walk out fine. Then he said "well I have to push it back anyways drop your carry on in it and I can give you the tour of airport and recs of stuff to do in city while we walk."


Assistance = wheelchair is so odd. Like why do they not have more than one category for notifying employees or for guests checking in?



Edit: maybe they thought you had a giant red seeing eye dog who reads your emails to you so they addressed it to him?

Tbh I've heard almost nothing but negative experiences with the employees who are supposed to help us at airports. It's one of the reasons why I never travel alone if I can help it. Having a friend, family member, or spouse be your sighted guide is way easier, but also not feasible if they're not getting on the plane with you.

That's another reason why USA airports are extremely inaccessible - the security is so tight that you can't take a chaperone past them if they're not flying. You're essentially forced to be on your own up until you get on the plane and it fucking sucks.

All this while they have what is clearly a half-assed bot answering emails from disabled people who need assistance to fly. Planet earth is great.

Hey Cliff!

We're terribly sorry you feel that youhad a negative personal experience with our airport. We've got a customer hotline you can call and wait between 90 and 120 minutes and voice your concerns to our very understanding robot! Bext time you travel you should consider calling and emailing us ahead of time to let us know what you need in advance. Please be advised that all service requests may or may not be received, and not all airports will be able to help you. We're sure you'll figure it out on your own anyway, though.

Have you considered our frequent flyer credit card? We'll give you 20 extra points if you sign up today. You can buy more tickets faster with the card, and we promise we'll only cancel some of your flights. You'll also get first priority to board not last. Aren't we amazing?!

We've automatically enrolled your email in our customer voices newsletter so you too can read about how great we are.

Please do not respond to this email or you will be placed on the do inot contact list and ignored for at least 6 months. Thank you for your understanding.

Sincerely,

Extra Awesome Airways

i've had the wheelchair thing lots, but usually here in australia if they bring it down and i say i don't need it, they are good about it and are happy to guide me. and the staff here in australian airports so far have nearly always been awesome.

Usually if I tell them I don’t need the wheelchair they won’t make me sit on it it’s a convenient thing to have though I use it to transport all my bags and most people are okay and flexible with that. It does seem like they have to bring the wheelchair along. I say that’s fine as long as you don’t make me sit in it. Most don’t. So I put all my bags on it and use it as a dolly or cart for my carry ons.

Only one place newark made me sit in it. They said if I don’t they won’t serve me. Hahahaha! And the person I was with my boyfriend at the time said don’t argue with them just sit in it. And that’s probably right. I was going to make a case about it but probably just end up doing it. But yeah. It was interesting. Most airports don’t insist I physically sit in it and is okay if I just pile all my stuff on top of it.

Oh wow… I hope everything will go well in the end.

Assistance for my personally has always worked very well throughout Europe and in Canada. Recently, I went on my first journey with my guide dog, though, and I was so close to losing my sanity trying to register her. The information on the airlines website was incomplete and basically „call customer service“, so I did, but of course there were long waiting times, because of Covid. Si, I get the mail address that I need to send stuff to. I don‘t hear anything back for some days and in the meantime book assistance, noting I‘ll be with a guide dog. I get an answer promptly with another mail address, so I send them the whole stuff there and get an auto-reply „please call customer service within 72 h to reconfirm“. I do and get shut down that these things take longer and no, I couldn‘t get an e-mail confirmation. I call again q few days and still nothing is dlne. I express my frustration, but the best the service guy can recommend is to re-send everything. So, I do. I call again within the next 72h and get an oral confirmatiln, but request it written. I then get a mail supposedly clntaining the written confirmation as an attachment. But there is no attachment. At this point I‘m sick of customer service and just hope it will work out.
Thankfully, everything goes smoothly at check-in, but once we are boarded it turns out the flight is fully booked and my request for additional legroom has not been considered, so my poor Labrador gets squeezed in somehow and I have a serious talk with the cabin crew on disability rights and reasonable accommodation, asking them to forward my issue (I know there‘s no law entitling me to legroom directly, but my guide dog not being squuezed in somewhere is very reasonable and that‘s a hill I will die on).

So, yeah, flying is fun…