To be fed up of airport accessibility services?

I can’t recommend Brittany ferries high enough, they were amazing. We use the additional needs option because dd is autistic (basically saves me money to list it I fully admit) and I met so many amazing parents dealing with complex disability and Brittany is so good they told me, complex medical equipment etc no problem, no risk of breakage, deal easily with both assistance dogs and family pets, and you take your adapted car with you. The Atlantic Coast of Spain is really lovely too

This is why I don’t fly with DS anymore, especially as my dad who is also a wheelchair user often travels with us. It all seems way more hassle than it’s worth.

we tend to cruise out of Southampton when we want to go abroad which is so much easier! We are trying Eurostar next year so hopefully that works out.

Sometimes ambulent pax wait for stairs, wait for immigration staff etc. Your experience while very poor is just one experience. Some pax will have waited very little time after the rest of the pax have left the aircraft and then will go to the quicker passport control because they have aircraft assistamce- is this fair to the other passengers especially when many of these passengers are cognitively able to queue. It's all swings and roumdabouts and while I think your experience was bad I don't believe it is discrimination.

To add it's also not in the airlines interest to have pax on planes for a long amount of time after landing. Some aircraft have very quick turnarounds and need the aircraft back in the air.

I have an electric wheelchair and a suitcase with wheels and zip along with the case.

Zurich and some other airports have taxis that take wheelchairs at exit. U.K. airports generally don’t but I usually train to my local airport.

I normally get plonked in a room with no access to a toilet for 3 hours before some one comes to get me to the gate.

I will just add some airports insist you use the ambilift when you don’t need it. My son is a wheelchair user. But he can climb the stairs of the plane. What he can’t do is manage an airport wheelchair, nor distances but if he has his chair that’s all we need. We won’t leave the plane without it now. It costs £7k. So no I won’t go in the ambilift in an airport chair which does not fit him and may cause pain in the hope we’ll get the chair somewhere at some point. We’ll wait. But once we have it if the lifts work we can do what anyone else does. But the system sometimes sends us a lift we don’t need. And it sometimes does something different even though we go through the same airport.

I went down the stairs at Zurich on my bum.

safer than walking (apparently a head of state from some African country had flown in and the smbilift was the other side of his cars).

I do use public transport from airports sometimes. Wheelchair accessible taxis or train.

Yes but even with strict use, the noise is often created by the NT siblings.

Or Children who are ND and have loud ticks/verbal outbursts.

It can be very difficult to keep a quiet area quiet.

Ideally yes and staff to use them and then support people through the airport or until they get their own equipment but they are businesses and the extra's that this requires would be redundant for a large amount of time. It just isn't reasonable (as in terms of reasonable adjustments).

It's also incredibly common to have one member of staff trying to push two wheelchairs.

At the same time?

I can't even begin to imagine how that'd work, let alone be incredibly common.

YANBU.

If every flight arriving at a similar time as yours required the lift, it would be impossible for them all to have it. It just isn't practical.

"They know people are coming in who need this though, we have to book. So they should have enough..."

That's the ideal but in the real world some airports some times of day you get a surge of arrivals (e.g. Heathrow, Long Haul arrivals after around 0430-0500) and there's a tremendous demand for all the various forms of Meet and Assist services, from wheelchairs/buggies needed from the aircraft door through the terminal through to the.whole ambi-lift process.

Unless the service providers have an almost infinite number of vehicles and crews there's going to almost always be some delay, certainly during peak periods.

You're right they should know and it's usually confirmed by the flight deck before landing but they can't pull the lifts away if they are already in use.

Yea, people pre book but aircraft/ canx get delayed which can have a knock on impact, some pax show up some don't, some pax get hurt when away and didn't need the lift on their outbound but need it on the return, staff call in sick, there are more flights in Summer than Winter and during the day than at night so some times are busier than others, there could just be need of the ambi lift at many planes at the same time, there will be other things that impact too.

I'm not saying it's right or fair but airports cannot provide an ambi lift at every gate all the time. It's impossible.

It would have been highlighted by the crew, hopefully their cabin manager/ supervisor would report it as legally crew have to have a certain amount of 'rest' between flights and this can impact this.

I have been on flights where pax have decided to walk rather than wait for the ambi lift "because it's so inconvenient to wait". I've also waited a long time with my son who could not manage the steps.

My biggest gripe is with those that abuse the system's making it harder for those that really need the help.

They definitely need to make the sunflower lanyard use stricter. We were in Gatwick with my 8 year old non verbal and learning difficulties child and he was struggling with all the noise and people in the "quiet" area. When I asked a member of staff if I was in the wrong area, obviously thinking that this couldn't be the quiet queue, he was exasperated and said well it should be used for people like your child but now everyone has the lanyard.

I went to Amsterdam by ferry recently and it was pretty good.

considering trying Eurostar as well.

I'm ex cabin crew and i also have a severly disabled son (16 years).

1. In the UK they need to get rid of the sunflower lanyard for airport use. It's too easy to abuse. (I know this doesn't impact op but I also know people who use the sunflower lanyard rather than paying for fast track when they aren't disabled and just want to scam the system).

1. The ambi lift (the lift that comes to the service door for people who can't manage stairs) isn't always available as there are only so many per airport and sometimes they need a specific ambi lift for a specific aircraft type.

1. If there is a flight such as a Lordes which is renound for having many people who need an ambi lift it can take hours to get all the people off the plane who need this (cabin crew don't aways get paid for this time and it may cut into their rest hours so they don't want people to be waiting for a long time either- flight deck usually vanish).

1. Some people book airport assistance who clearly don't need it as they think it'll get them through immigration etc quicker. They hold up the processs for everyone else and are taking resources from those that really need them - they are £%>@(.

1. Staffing levels impact on everything.

I'm really sorry you were stuck for this length of time. I don't believe the airports are strictly to blame.