{"id":4598,"date":"2023-08-06T17:32:42","date_gmt":"2023-08-06T21:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/?p=4598"},"modified":"2023-08-06T17:32:56","modified_gmt":"2023-08-06T21:32:56","slug":"the-best-and-worst-us-airlines-for-handling-wheelchairs-in-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/2023\/08\/06\/the-best-and-worst-us-airlines-for-handling-wheelchairs-in-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best and Worst US Airlines for Handling Wheelchairs in 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The worst nightmare for any wheelchair user who wants to travel is having to fly on a plane. From booking the flights to selecting a seat to requesting wheelchair assistance, the whole process is stressful. But the worst part is wondering if your wheelchair is going to make it to your destination in one piece, or even make it there at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few years ago, and after considerable effort, the US Department of Transportation was finally forced to start tracking how many passenger wheelchairs are lost, damaged, or otherwise mishandled by US airlines<\/a>. There has been a considerable amount of data collected over the last few years to notice trends, both overall and within each individual airline. Based on the statistics reported by the US DOT in 2022, here are the trends and how the airlines rank as best and worst for handling wheelchairs during air travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Best and Worst<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, the US airline with the best record of handling wheelchairs was Allegiant, with an average rate of wheelchair loss, damage, or mishandling of 0.4%. Allegiant was followed by Delta with an average rate of 0.8%, and then United with 1.1%. Allegiant did have a small spike in mishandling reports during the summer months, which may be attributed to corresponding spikes in air travel. Delta’s rate held steady, and actually started to decline\/improve in the fall. United also held steady throughout the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As anyone can see in the graph above, two airlines were clearly the worst for wheelchair handling \u2013 JetBlue and Spirit. JetBlue had an average mishandling rate of 5.25% and spirit had a rate of 5.8%. These rates are at least three times worse than the other eight airlines the US DOT tracks. Both JetBlue and Spirit also saw a spike in mishandling during the summer travel months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few years ago I wrote a blog post about why so many wheelchairs get lost or damaged or mishandled<\/a> \u2014 an average of 26 per day in the United States. There are a lot of factors that come into play, including the pressure to turn an aircraft around for departure within a limited amount of time, lack of training on handling wheelchairs properly, and sometimes personal apathy by baggage handlers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of factors also come into play when we are selecting an airline for accessible travel. Depending on where you live and what your budget is, you may not have too many choices. Also, because baggage handlers are contracted out locally by airlines, you may have different results from airport to airport. There are plenty of wheelchair users who have had awful experiences with extensive damage on Delta and United, and other wheelchair users who have had fabulous experiences with JetBlue. Frankly, I don’t know anybody who has had a great experience on Spirit Airlines with anything, but your mileage may vary.U<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, it’s important to remember what to do if you do experience the loss or damage of your wheelchair during a trip. Make sure that you report the damage to both the airline and the US Department ofTransportation. Know what your rights are under the Air Carrier Access Act<\/a>, and keep following up to make sure any damage gets repaired as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The worst nightmare for any wheelchair user who wants to travel is having to fly on a plane. From booking the flights to selecting a seat to requesting wheelchair assistance, the whole process is stressful. … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5625],"tags":[1431,1432,830,1433,140],"yst_prominent_words":[2976,1984,1383,1366,544,332,542],"class_list":["post-4598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air-travel","tag-acaa","tag-air-carrier-access-act","tag-air-travel","tag-airlines","tag-airport","latest_post"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/airlines.png?fit=936%2C624&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8IhCJ-1ca","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4066,"url":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/2019\/12\/30\/airline-wheelchair-damage-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":4598,"position":0},"title":"The Best and Worst US Airlines for Wheelchair Damage in 2019","author":"Sylvia Longmire","date":"December 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"One\u00a0of the biggest travel fears for wheelchair users is having their wheelchairs or other mobility aids damaged or lost while flying. We've all heard the horror stories and seen the terrifying photos of $30,000+ wheelchairs destroyed into bits and pieces during flights, but until a year ago, we had no\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Advocacy"","block_context":{"text":"Advocacy","link":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/category\/advocacy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/avg-perc-line.png?fit=1200%2C594&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/avg-perc-line.png?fit=1200%2C594&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/avg-perc-line.png?fit=1200%2C594&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/avg-perc-line.png?fit=1200%2C594&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/avg-perc-line.png?fit=1200%2C594&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2474,"url":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/2019\/03\/15\/us-airlines-are-damaging-or-breaking-25-wheelchairs-every-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":4598,"position":1},"title":"US Airlines Are Damaging or Breaking 25 Wheelchairs Every Day","author":"Sylvia Longmire","date":"March 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"In February 2019, the Department of Transportation issued its monthly Air Travel Consumer Report as usual. What made this report different is that, for the first time, it included legally mandated statistics on the mishandling of wheelchairs and scooters by US airlines. The first report included data from multiple US\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel Tips"","block_context":{"text":"Travel Tips","link":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/category\/travel-tips\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/7073AE61-401F-492E-86E9-4380048130ED.jpg?fit=1200%2C885&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/7073AE61-401F-492E-86E9-4380048130ED.jpg?fit=1200%2C885&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/7073AE61-401F-492E-86E9-4380048130ED.jpg?fit=1200%2C885&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/7073AE61-401F-492E-86E9-4380048130ED.jpg?fit=1200%2C885&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/7073AE61-401F-492E-86E9-4380048130ED.jpg?fit=1200%2C885&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3483,"url":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/2019\/08\/28\/faa-wheelchairs-on-planes\/","url_meta":{"origin":4598,"position":2},"title":"Why Air Travel Authorities Say Yes to Lap Infants but No to Wheelchairs on Airplanes","author":"Sylvia Longmire","date":"August 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Any wheelchair user who has ever flown on a plane knows exactly what a nightmare air travel can be. From having to be transferred by often inept wheelchair assistance airport employees to stressing out over potential wheelchair damage, the entire process is enough to cause a lot of anxiety. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Advocacy"","block_context":{"text":"Advocacy","link":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/category\/advocacy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/70D51BC7-B510-4EEA-A444-0F60B57F0D84.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/70D51BC7-B510-4EEA-A444-0F60B57F0D84.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/70D51BC7-B510-4EEA-A444-0F60B57F0D84.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/70D51BC7-B510-4EEA-A444-0F60B57F0D84.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/70D51BC7-B510-4EEA-A444-0F60B57F0D84.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1139,"url":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/2018\/01\/13\/signs-airlines-dont-care-wheelchair-users\/","url_meta":{"origin":4598,"position":3},"title":"5 Signs That Airlines Don\u2019t Care About Wheelchair Users","author":"Sylvia Longmire","date":"January 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m a professional traveler. In 2017 alone, I visited 17 countries and traveled over 118,000 miles. I covered all of that ground \"on wheels\"\u2014specifically in an electric scooter\u2014because I can\u2019t walk due to having multiple sclerosis. As a result, I have experienced flying as a disabled passenger on over a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel Tips"","block_context":{"text":"Travel Tips","link":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/category\/travel-tips\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/signs-that-airlines-dont-care-about-wheelchair-users.png?fit=735%2C1102&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/signs-that-airlines-dont-care-about-wheelchair-users.png?fit=735%2C1102&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/signs-that-airlines-dont-care-about-wheelchair-users.png?fit=735%2C1102&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/signs-that-airlines-dont-care-about-wheelchair-users.png?fit=735%2C1102&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4353,"url":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/2020\/10\/27\/american-airlines-can-deny-boarding-to-power-wheelchair-users-on-regional-flights\/","url_meta":{"origin":4598,"position":4},"title":"American Airlines Can Deny Boarding to Power Wheelchair Users on Regional Flights","author":"Sylvia Longmire","date":"October 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Air travel has always been the stuff of nightmares for wheelchair users. If we\u2019re not worrying about our wheelchairs getting damaged or lost, we\u2019re freaking out over possibly getting dropped or hurt during aisle transfers. Unfortunately, now thanks to American Airlines, we can add being denied boarding to the list.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travelogue"","block_context":{"text":"Travelogue","link":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/category\/travelogue\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/IMG_4319.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/IMG_4319.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/IMG_4319.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/IMG_4319.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/IMG_4319.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1320,"url":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/2018\/04\/11\/airlines-making-wheelchair-users-terrified-flying\/","url_meta":{"origin":4598,"position":5},"title":"Dear Airlines: You\u2019re Making Wheelchair Users Terrified of Flying","author":"Sylvia Longmire","date":"April 11, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I was 16 years old when I took my first plane ride. It wasn\u2019t anything scary or special, but I\u2019ve spent my life since with a moderate fear of flying. It\u2019s just a control issue, and it\u2019s pretty common; roughly 13 percent of Americans are afraid of taking to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travelogue"","block_context":{"text":"Travelogue","link":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/category\/travelogue\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"dear airlines you're making wheelchair users terrified of flying","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/dear-airlines-youre-making-wheelchair-users-terrified-of-flying.png?fit=735%2C1102&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/dear-airlines-youre-making-wheelchair-users-terrified-of-flying.png?fit=735%2C1102&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/dear-airlines-youre-making-wheelchair-users-terrified-of-flying.png?fit=735%2C1102&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/dear-airlines-youre-making-wheelchair-users-terrified-of-flying.png?fit=735%2C1102&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4598"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=4598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}