‘Priceless’ loss of dignity: Traveler lost independence when airline damaged wheelchair
Mobility device lost or damaged by an airline? USA TODAY wants to hear about it
Voorde, 30, who has osteogenesis imperfecta, relies on her wheelchair to get around and said the airport and airline workers in South Bend immediately went into triage mode when they realized her wheelchair arrived broken.
“The gate agents and the people at the South Bend airport were incredible,” she said, although the situation was still extremely frustrating.
“They ended up bringing an airport wheelchair, like a standard hospital-esque chair that I was able to transfer into,” Voorde said. “They helped me take my bags. They took me, (and) that was a chair I wasn’t able to operate independently, so you’re very much at other people’s mercy.”
Even though she can drive herself, Voorde wound up needing to get her mother to pick her up at the airport because she did not have the same level of independence with the airport loaner chair.
“I brought it home for the night until I pulled my backup out of storage,” Voorde said. “It literally didn’t fit through the doorway in the restroom in my house.”
Still, Voorde counts herself lucky for having a secondary wheelchair on hand, though she said that it doesn’t fit her as well and is harder to operate than the regular chair that was damaged.
For now, Voorde is working with Global Repair Group, a contractor many airlines partner with to handle mobility device damages.
“They reached out within a few days, which again, it’s like, that’s a long time if you don’t have other alternatives,” she said. Ultimately, the repair technician said her chair was totaled, but there’s no definite timeline for further repairs or replacement.
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Voorde, however, said airlines need to do more to hold their employees accountable when damages like these occur because they have such an outsize impact on the lives of the affected passengers.
“The loss of dignity is the priceless aspect of it,” she said. “What would really make me whole and give me peace is if there was some assurance that this would stop happening to whatever it is, 27 people per day across the country.”
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.
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: