Maceo Carter traveled to Washington, D.C., with the Muscular Dystrophy Association in May to speak to members of Congress about improving accessibility. He said it was a great trip that ended on a sour note when he landed in Phoenix and found his power wheelchair was no longer working.
“On the flight back we tell them do not touch the back of the chair, nothing comes off,” he said “The battery does not come off, please do not touch the back of the chair, just leave it as is.”
But when his chair was delivered to him, he kept getting an error message that prevented him from controlling the device himself. Carter suspects one of the handlers moved or damaged a wire on the back of his chair, and he wound up having to try to fix it in the airport.
“They push us aside to try to get everybody else on. Mind you, this is myself, my wife and a two-year-old,” he said. “That was an additional two and a half hours we spent while they tried to work on the chair in the middle of the terminal.”
Carter, 48, has ALS and relies on his wheelchair to get around.
Eventually he and his family made it home, and wound up so dissatisfied with the timeline for repair or replacement they received from Global Repair Group – American Airlines’ contractor for wheelchair issues – they decided to take matters into their own hands.
“The chair that they sent as a (temporary) replacement is like comparing a Range Rover to a Pinto. It’s not comparable,” Carter said. “They said it can take up to a month for someone to come out and look at it … I work. I work from my chair, I can’t wait a month.”
Instead, his wife Maya Carter contacted the local chapter of the ALS Association, which was able to give her husband a full replacement chair on permanent loan. Even so, Maya said, that took two weeks, which could have been devastating to their family.
“Two weeks of work in this economy for someone who is differently abled could cost them their job,” she said. “Two weeks of work is food out of my children’s mouth.”
American Airlines acknowledged the incident in a statement and noted that Carter’s issue had been addressed.
“American is committed to caring for our customers who rely on wheelchairs and assistive devices. A team member has been in touch with the customer to apologize and fully repair the device,” the statement said.
According to American, Carter received a $300 credit toward a future trip, but he said he found that compensation “beyond insulting.”
For now, he said, he’s frustrated with how American Airlines handled the situation, even though he said the flight itself was acceptable.
“The fact of the matter is the flight was fine. We enjoyed the flight, the people, we didn’t mind flying,” Carter said, but added that he’s avoiding flying for the foreseeable future because he “can’t afford to have an airline damage my wheelchair again.”
In the end, what Carter said he wants is for airlines to understand how important mobility aids are for travelers who are differently abled.
“I wanted to add again how great it is to be able to travel and your chair not break, and how freeing that is and how humbling that is where it makes you still feel like a regular person, instead of somebody just living with a disease,” he said. “If people are trained to just get these chairs onboard and offloaded until we can get off the planes ourselves, it helps everyone in the long run.”
Cruising Altitude:Data doesn’t show how ‘catastrophic’ airline wheelchair damage can be
How common is mobility equipment damage in air travel?
According to the Department of Transportation, airlines “mishandle” on average about 1.5% of the mobility equipment they transport. In 2022, that translated to 11,389 incidents reported by U.S. airlines, up from 7,239 in 2021.
This year, USA TODAY wants to highlight what those figures mean for travelers with disabilities. We’re looking to track these incidents throughout 2023 with the goal of bringing light to an all-too-common problem.
If your own mobility equipment was damaged or lost by an airline this year, please share your story with us using the form below:
Zach Wichter is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in New York. You can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com
