Notes

Although, I have only experienced second hand the experience of a wheelchair bound traveler, trying to put together some more points that come to my mind in terms of all differently abled people… putting personal anecdotes in brackets.

Booking Tickets :-
a. It would be good if the booking website has an “accessible-mode” which caters to visually challenged customers, limited mobility customers.
b. Its not always clear, in which step the “assistance required” or “wheelchair required” option will pop up. (not really intuitive, and once we didn’t select it and Singapore airport officials refused to give a wheelchair)

Getting to the airport:-
a. It would be nice to have a wheelchair friendly cab, maybe at an additional cost charged while booking flight tickets
(we usually take a normal cab big enough to accommodate a wheelchair in rear seat or boot space)

b. Though there are separate boarding points for differently abled customers, the signboards should be placed much before and not just before the separate road appears. I am sure many people miss the small signs.

Getting inside the airport and Checkin:-
a. A wheelchair bound person will come into the airport with his own wheelchair.
He/She will not be allowed to use the same wheelchair in the flight due to space constraints in the isle.
Its difficult for such a person to go to the airline counter (outside one) and ask for the airport/airline wheelchair:

b. The outside airline counters are sometimes too high for them to even look at the person who is at the counter, and its usually noisy outside. So the communication setup is not that effective.

c. If the wheelchair bound person is not accompanied by someone who can help, its gets a bit difficult to find an airport person for assistance.
This is pretty much needed for:
shrink wrapping the personal wheelchair, to get the luggage inside the airport from cab, luggage drop in belt, checkin etc.

d. There is usually a waiting time to get the airport wheelchair. Maybe they should have it in reserved status for people who have asked for a wheelchair in the ticket and maybe have a waiting period who have asked for it on adhoc-basis.

e. The personal wheelchairs are sometimes very expensive and its always a matter of concern if airport authorities will handle it well, when board it like just another piece of luggage. Not sure what is their liability on that.


Facilities:-
a. The airline wheelchair should be an active wheelchair (as opposed to a passive one, which can only be pushed by the attendant), so that if the person is able and wants to move around to washrooms, etc - he should be able to do so on his own, respecting his privacy.

b. There should be reserved seats in lounges for such customers, and that should be near the boarding gate and not at the other end of the row (which is how I have seen in Bangalore airport!)

Boarding:-
a. The special needs customers are usually boarded first.
The air bridge sometimes has a step and not at same level as aircraft. This is a jerky transit for any person in a wheelchair and also a place to take caution for a visually impaired person.

Arrival:-
a. The wheelchair customers are usually the last to de-board and sometimes it takes a lot fo time for them to bring the airline wheelchair.
b. The attendant should be with the customer through luggage pickup and cab alighting - again if the cab is wheelchair friendly, that would be great.