Electric Wheelchair problem

[faeflora]

My experience flying with my powerchair was pre 9/11. We flew AA, and at that time Midway out of Raleigh to Tampa and Orlando.
We took the chair directly to the gate, Raleigh does not have an elevator. At the gate they removed the battery and two ramp guys carried the chair down the steps and into the cargo hold. When arriving in Tampa, the chair was sent to baggage claim, but an attendant assisted us via a manual chair and pushed me directly to the powerchair where I did the transfer thing.
I do not travel with a power chair anymore so my manual is always a gate checkin.

 

[BCV23]

pugdog, you're braver than we are with checking a powerchair at all. We have never done so with our daughter's Jazzy for fear of what could go wrong. But this Quickie is much less expensive and has a much simpler design so we're comfortable checking it. The folks who have taken and returned it have been great and I actually like interacting with those responsible for it.

Also, the elevators that are used are for the most part are not public elevators in our short experience. Leaving MCO, they used the one in the Red Carpet Club. THat may have been the one used in landing there as well. At ORD for this trip, wherever the elevator was, it was not a public one as it came from the opposite direction of the main terminal. So there may be elevators at Minn/St. Paul that you haven't seen.

Faeflora, thanks for your report as well. Why do you fly with a manual chair now? Do you rent once your at WDW?

 

[pugdog]

We have had some small things break before but we now have a way of compacting the chair so that nothing breaks anymore. It only takes about 15 minutes to break down and put back together.

I'm sure there are other non public elevators at MSP but they never seemed to be near the gates that we used. The only public ones are in the main terminal.

If you want I can always email you some pics of how we fold DW chair down for travel.

 

[SueM in MN]

My experience flying with my powerchair was pre 9/11. We flew AA, and at that time Midway out of Raleigh to Tampa and Orlando.
We took the chair directly to the gate, Raleigh does not have an elevator. At the gate they removed the battery and two ramp guys carried the chair down the steps and into the cargo hold.:

That would work if the wheelchair is light enough. According to the instruction book, my DD's Invacare Arrow power wheelchair weighs 267 pounds without the batteries, seating system, footrests or armrests.
When we had inquired about traveling with it, we were told it would have to go down an elevator because it was too heavy to go down the steps. And, as pugdog mentioned, the elevators that go from the boarding area to the loading area are widely spaced in some airports. From what I was told, the elevators used are mostly baggage/service elevators because those are the main ones that go down to ground level.

 

[BCV23]

If you want I can always email you some pics of how we fold DW chair down for travel.

Thanks very much pugdog but for now we seem to be set. This chair is working out very well for travel. Just tonight my daughter was seeing if she could manage the levers to switch from power to manual. She can't but maybe a little WD40 will do it? Also, I don't think her Jazzy is made for folding!

Thank you again for the offer though.

 

[SueM in MN]

I'm really curious about that switch-able Quickie. Have you had it for long?

 

[BCV23]

No, we haven't. We purchased it online in Dec.. My DH was doing research for a backup for our daughter to have at college. A local dealer carried it too but for quite a bit more than the website my DH found.

It is a Quickie-V121. When he first read about it, he was very excited since he thought it was so portable. However, I can't lift the batteries or chair...but he can. It is a very simple design though and worked great at WDW as well as on our other vacation with it. Another nice feature is that the footrests swing out of the way to each side with the push of a tab.

A disadvantage is that the charger is loud. Kind of a dull roar. It does become sort of like white noise though I guess.

If you would like to know the website, I'll ask my husband.

 

[pugdog]

None of the power chairs are made for folding you need to change some bolts and screws to make it work.

 

[Talking Hands]

Thanks very much pugdog but for now we seem to be set. This chair is working out very well for travel. Just tonight my daughter was seeing if she could manage the levers to switch from power to manual. She can't but maybe a little WD40 will do it? Also, I don't think her Jazzy is made for folding!

Thank you again for the offer though.

What model Jazzy dies she have. The back of my Jazzy 1103 folds down. The foot rest folds up towards the chair. It depends on the model and how it was set up.

 

[BCV23]

None of the power chairs are made for folding you need to change some bolts and screws to make it work.

Oh, I misunderstood you then.

But again this Quickie does fold up accordion style like most manual chairs once you remove the batteries.

 

[faeflora]

Totally correct about the weight of the chair being a factor in carrying it down steps. I had an action power chair with full recline function and with special seating and head rest. It was a fairly good sized chair but an not sure of the weight.
I have to agree with the fact that this situation may just be the way RDU, Raleigh airport had to handle wheelchairs.
Always best to check directly with the airline and if possible the airport.

 

[BCV23]

What model Jazzy dies she have. The back of my Jazzy 1103 folds down. The foot rest folds up towards the chair. It depends on the model and how it was set up.

She has an 1143. I don't know if they even make them anymore as we were looking for info for a young man with cp whom my oldest son was helping while at grad school this past semester. Anyway, the footrest does fold up but the wheels are still there of course. Her seat back did not fold originally but we had it retrofitted to remove. Of course, this doesn't matter for trips now as this Quickie is easy to travel with.

It is also smaller than her already small Jazzy. However, she finds it does not pivot as well...one more disadvantage that I can think of offhand.

 

[Talking Hands]

She has an 1143. I don't know if they even make them anymore as we were looking for info for a young man with cp whom my oldest son was helping while at grad school this past semester. Anyway, the footrest does fold up but the wheels are still there of course. Her seat back did not fold originally but we had it retrofitted to remove. Of course, this doesn't matter for trips now as this Quickie is easy to travel with.

It is also smaller than her already small Jazzy. However, she finds it does not pivot as well...one more disadvantage that I can think of offhand.

Go to www.pridemobility.com for what models are now available. I see there is a 1143 Ultra.