Hey everyone,
I returned yesterday from a lovely weekend in Baltimore, Maryland, where I joined my mom and sister on a trip to visit with my grandpa. I was supposed to be home on Monday, but terrible weather in St. Louis forced my flight to divert to Chicago, where I spent the night.
Grandpa is my last living grandparent, and so I cherish the opportunity to learn more about his life each time we are together. On this trip, I was able to share something with him — a story I previously shared with you in one of my favorite articles, Sailing in Steerage and a Love Story for the Ages.
It is a remarkable story of true love, the story of my great great grandmother surrendering her U.S. citizenship so that she could say "I do" to my great great grandfather, a Polish immigrant.
When I wrote about their love just over a year ago, I had no idea what was on the verge of unfolding in my own life — the story of my own engagement, which I shared here: The Biggest Adventure of My Life. Love certainly abounds in my family, and I am grateful for it!
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A wet wheelchair, and true customer service
I flew back to the United States last week on an American Airlines flight itinerary from Athens to Knoxville with connections in New York and Washington, D.C. It was a mostly good flight experience, save for the denial of preboarding in Athens and my wheelchair being left uncovered in the pouring rain in Washington, D.C.
The wheelchair was soaked when it was returned to me in Knoxville. The local team did what they could to dry it off, but it was soaked! Water had infiltrated the joystick/controls, but there has fortunately not been a short circuit yet (knock on wood!). A gate agent kindly gave me her own seat cushion to place on top of mine, and I reported the damage at the baggage office. The seat cushion will be replaced and my repair technician will be doing a full assessment of the wheelchair.
A wet wheelchair is not a very compelling photo, so here are two pictures of my family. ❤️
A couple days later, I returned to the Knoxville Airport to begin my trip to Baltimore and an AA manager approached me with a printed Complaint Resolution Official ("CRO") report. The document detailed the issue of my wet wheelchair two days prior, and contained an admission that a violation of the Air Carrier Access Act had occurred (it's rare for AA to admit fault). It's even more rare for AA employees to follow-through with the CRO report that is mandated by law (you can learn more here), so I was surprised to receive one in this case. There is a great team working for AA at the Knoxville Airport and they take good care of me there, so kudos to them for being on top of things and taking customer service seriously.
Airlines have a tendency to leave wheelchairs unprotected in the rain — Learn more about the issue in this edition of the Reader Mailbag series:
John Morris
Baltimore problems
First off, let me say this: Baltimore is a wonderful city — it is one that I always enjoy visiting and I believe it has a bright future as a tourist destination. But there were two significant issues that I experienced over the weekend, and I share them as a benefit (or warning) to you — these problems are by no means unique to Baltimore, but they are still important to consider when planning a wheelchair accessible trip to "Charm City."
Need a wheelchair taxi? Forget about it at BWI Airport.
On Thursday, I arrived to BWI Airport at approximately 11:45 p.m. and called for the hotel shuttle at the Hyatt Place BWI Airport, where I had planned to spend the night. The hotel had neither a wheelchair accessible shuttle nor an "equivalent alternative" as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act. This was not a surprise — read about the problem of inaccessible hotel shuttles here:
John Morris
With the hotel unable to provide transportation, I went over to the taxi stand, which at that hour was unstaffed. I called the provided number and found that there were no wheelchair accessible taxis available. The dispatcher had no interest in assisting me to find another solution, except to say "you can get a standard taxi." That's not helpful to passengers like myself who use power wheelchairs that weigh hundreds of pounds!
I was told by a taxi driver that BWI Airport is only served by a single wheelchair taxi — and that "he only works in the daytime." That was a shocking revelation, because it was not that way just a few years ago.
My only option — other than to sleep on a hard bench inside the airport — was to ride the city bus to my hotel. The bus schedule is infrequent during the late night hours and what would have been a two-mile journey in the hotel shuttle ended up taking about two hours.
I have reached out to the ADA Coordinator at the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport with a handful of questions:
- How many wheelchair taxis serve the airport?
- Why are adapted taxis not available at the same times as standard taxi vehicles?
- Why are hotels permitted to operate shuttles at the airport while out of compliance with federal civil rights statutes?
- What are disabled passengers left to do when they encounter significant barriers to equal access?
I am interested in learning the answers to these questions and more and will update you after our conversation. The status quo is unacceptable and I will dedicate some time to advocating for better accessible transportation at BWI Airport.
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Pick your poison: No consistency in hotel accessibility.
I stayed at three different hotels on this trip, and all three had major accessibility barriers that were either impossible, difficult or dangerous to overcome.
Hyatt Place Baltimore Inner Harbor (left); Sonesta Hotel Baltimore Inner Harbor (right)
In the interest of brevity, here is a list of the hotels and the primary challenges I faced:
- Hyatt Place Baltimore/BWI Airport — Inaccessible airport shuttle; bed placement blocked wheelchair access to the ADA bathroom (we had to move the bed).
- Hyatt Place Baltimore/Inner Harbor — No grab bars or secure seat in "accessible" bathtub.
- Sonesta Hotel Baltimore Inner Harbor — "Roll-in" shower had 3-inch lip, no handheld shower head, and a portable seat with legs that were bent/in danger of failure; No grab bar on side wall next to toilet.
It seemed like, no matter where I stayed, I could not find an accessible room! There are of course accessible hotels in Baltimore that I have enjoyed on previous trips, but room availability was limited and prices were elevated due to the Preakness Stakes. ADA accessible hotel rooms were largely sold out.
My trip to Baltimore came together late and I did not have time to reach out to the hotels in advance. Doing so might have saved me the hassles of inaccessibility, but every accessible hotel room should be accessible. I intend to follow-up with each of these hotels in the hopes they will make the necessary changes to become truly accessible to disabled travelers.
Pack your bags! The next Wheelchair Travel Group Trip opens for booking tomorrow!
The absolute highlight of my work is traveling with readers like you on the Wheelchair Travel Group Trips that take place throughout the year. Piecing together compelling, memorable and accessible tour itineraries is a labor of love, and I am thrilled to see travelers experience it firsthand — I organize and lead every Wheelchair Travel Group Trip.
The most recent trip was earlier this month, and it was amazing to explore Greece with an incredible group of travelers. We had a blast!
Now, I am excited to announce that the next group trip (and my last tour of the 2025 calendar year) will take place from December 6 to 16, 2025 in MOROCCO!
The complete itinerary for the tour will be released tomorrow and booking will open at that time for paid subscribers of this newsletter. If you would like to be among the first to receive this trip opportunity and future information about accessible group tours, please upgrade your subscription.
Talk to you soon,
— John
