Not All Airline Wheelchair Damage is Repairable

Early this year, my wheelchair was damaged on an American Airlines flight. Rather than using a wheelchair lift, the baggage handlers physically lifted the wheelchair from the belt loader. The result was predictable: the wheelchair was too heavy for them to safely handle, and the wheelchair dropped onto the pavement at an awkward angle.

Watching the incident from the airplane window, I assumed that the wheelchair's frame had been damaged. I could not be certain, but I had a sneaking suspicion. In the wheelchair damage claim, I reported what I could personally verify: a broken piece of plastic trim, a bent headlight and, most concerning, a noise coming from the wheel. Visually, the chair looked fine — but looks aren't everything.

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A wheelchair repair technician was sent to my home. He diagnosed the problem as a bent drive wheel. A couple weeks later, the wheel was replaced, yet the noise remained.

The next technician said it was a damaged motor. A motor was ordered and installed a few weeks later. The noise persisted.

In the meantime, the chair was mishandled yet again. Twice in fact. It was dropped harder, this time by United Airlines. An armrest was bent, a seat cushion torn and a louder and more annoying noise emanated from the undercarriage.

Line of people at the United baggage service stand at baggage claim.

There was a revolving door of wheelchair repairmen at my house. A series of technicians had assessed the chair; everything including motors, wheels, casters and shocks was replaced. The noise never went away.

I was exhausted. I had sacrificed hours of my time across more than 10 appointments to no avail. I was ready to give up but, in a last-ditch effort, I asked for the manufacturer to look at my wheelchair.

The Permobil representative was an expert in my equipment and determined that the wheelchair's frame had indeed been damaged. After a wheelchair is dropped, he told me, "we can no longer certify that the wheelchair is safe to use."

Those were the magic words, and United Airlines approved a replacement wheelchair. As a result, I can now say that I have had a power chair destroyed and replaced by each of the big three U.S. airlines — once by Delta, a few times by American, and now by United. "Achievement unlocked," I suppose?

Here's the thing: local wheelchair repairmen have little experience, if any, in identifying damage to a wheelchair's frame. They spend their days on routine service calls changing tires, installing batteries and swapping failed parts. The wheelchairs they deal with are primarily used in the home and in the local community — not being loaded onto more than a hundred airplanes each year, as is the case with my wheelchair.

When the technicians came to assess damage on my wheelchair, they heard a noise and tried to fix it. That's a seemingly reasonable approach but, as it turns out, the damage was never repairable. Their repair attempts were exercises in futility.

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The truth is, airlines damage wheelchairs in ways that would never be possible at home. My 400-pound wheelchair has never been lifted off its wheels anywhere except in the "care" of airlines. It has certainly never been dropped at home! In the future, I will be much quicker to call in the manufacturer's own representatives, who will be better equipped to identify irreparable damage.

My replacement wheelchair was delivered last month, and it took its first flights a week ago — a round-trip from St. Louis to Dallas on American Airlines. The outbound flight was great, but on the return, my brand-new wheelchair was damaged. How badly, I cannot be sure, but there are loud squeaking noises coming from the seating system and central pillar. Here we go again...