Air travel has much more accessibility considerations, especially compared to ground transportation. There are certain things which may require help from other people, though there are some workarounds. Originally I thought I would go through the facts, but maybe it would make sense to explain it through some personal stories, of which I have many.
Depending on the location, it is important to leave enough time to get to the airport, especially at places where they are not too used to guide dogs and I have to prove my case, or show documentations about Baldwin, my guide dog.
I don’t check in in advance, because I like to get a seat where Baldwin has enough room to lay down and it is not always possible to find the right seat online.
Unless I know the airport or station well, I ask for assistance to get to my gate.
At some airports where there is a good GPS reception, for example in Dallas, I can just set my GPS to the gate I’m going to and always know how far I am, and what’s the direction of the gate. The Dallas airport has glass all around which helps the GPS reception. Otherwise, it is not convenient. Besides, there can be all kinds of obstacles and things I’m not aware of, so asking for help makes things much easier.
And let’s just be honest, when I get help from the airport staff, they are busy people and they don’t have time to stand in line for hours. This means that they use their badges and get me around the line. It may not be fair to those who are standing there for hours, but I can’t tell the employee that out of fairness let’s stay at the end of the line. Being blind has many disadvantages, but this one is a bonus.
I also applied for TSA precheck, so I don’t have to take my shoes off and unpack my laptop bag. I still have to do it in other countries, but at least in the US it is very convenient and saves quite a bit of time.
Usually airport employees who help those in need tend to use a wheelchair to get people to their destination much quicker. I absolutely don’t need one, but often they insist that I sit in it. It is much easier to talk them out of it since I have Baldwin. Once I was told that I either pay $30 for the assistance or sit in a wheelchair for free. I don’t think this was a legal thing, but I had to get to my gate, and I wasn’t about to pay 30 bucks. So, the wheelchair it was…
Sometimes when there is a long layover, there are specially designated rooms where they bring people with disabilities or otherwise in need and they help them to their destination when it is time to leave. This option is both good and bad. I know it is the easiest way for the airport staff to quickly help many people and provide specialized service, the downside is that these are the most boring places with the absolute minimum, sometimes only bathroom and water. It is not fun to sit there for 5 hours. In this case, I ask for help to get to my gate so that I know where it is and I can venture out to grab something to eat, get a coffee, or to entertain myself with something. In Chicago, however, I was told several times that it wasn’t an option, if I ask for special help, I need to stay at the designated room. Unfortunately, Chicago is one of the places where I definitely need help to get around.
It happens most often at airports that somebody will ask me for my papers and they hold on to it. In General, it is done for a good reason, they will grab my passport, id or boarding pass, and handle it. As I usually have a bunch of bags and the dog or cane, it is helpful, but there is a downside to it. I don’t usually know the person who has my papers, if we lose each other, I’m stuck. Of course, if anything happens, it is not un purpose, but it could cause enough trouble that it is worth considering.
I was switching flights in New Delhi when an airport employee asked me for my boarding pass and passport, just to check, but later he said that he will hold on to it until I get to the connecting flight. Of course, I wasn’t a fan of the idea, and I asked him for my papers and I assured him that I will hand them back to him whenever he needed it. Finally, I was the one who gave in, after all, we were at the counter, he said we will be leaving in five minutes and I got a chair to wait. But the problem was when the five minutes turned into a half hour, then an hour, I had no idea what we were waiting for, I had to go to the restroom, and I didn’t have my papers. If at that point I get up and find a restroom, and can’t find the guy who had my papers, I can spend the rest of my trip calling the consulate and explain my situation. So, I tried to make a deal with him, I said I needed my papers because I want to go to the restroom, which of course he didn’t understand, and said that there wasn’t a restroom nearby, I could go find one after I go through security. Hard to believe, so I insisted. So, no papers, no pot, and neither of them made me feel comfortable. I think I tried real hard to negotiate, but finally something had to happen, so I told him that at this point if I don’t get reunited with my papers, I will call the US embassy, because it is my right to hold them. Of course, I got my papers back immediately, and it even turned out that there was a restroom about 50 feet from me.
I felt horrible about this, because it was clearly a miscommunication, the airport agent had his best intention to help. But from my perspective, if I lose him or my papers, I need to worry about something much bigger than an embarrassing miscommunication. So, I did apologize, but I don’t think it made up for anything. For the rest of my stay at the airport, I stayed together with my papers.
Another story happened in Mexico. I was traveling without Baldwin, so they convinced me at the airport to sit in a wheelchair. There was no need for it, but I couldn’t talk them out of it, so it just made more sense to go with the flow. At the security, it turned out that the mulcajete I had in my bag wasn’t allowed, because it was made of stone. I doubt it was stone, but I didn’t feel it was reasonable to argue about an object and they knew better. So, I was told I had to check in my bag. I was wondering why was it ok to check it in if it wasn’t ok in the carryon bag, but sometimes the rules don’t make sense.
I was wheeled back to the check-in counter, they took my bags, my papers, and started arguing with me that it wasn’t allowed, I sure didn’t start it myself. When everything other than my laptop bag and cane was gone, I was told to wait. I set there for what seemed to be hours, while they were dealing with my situation. It frustrated me that I was without my papers, thus I had no way to leave, and nobody was willing to explain what was happening, I had no idea where my bag was, or the guy with the papers Of course, this is different in a way because according to them I violated regulations, so they had the right to my papers, though it didn’t make me feel any better. I kept asking airport employees but they kept telling me to wait. Finally I had enough, and switched to Spanish, which I don’t speak nearly as well as English, and demanded that it was my right to either get my passport back or have an explanation about where it is and what it is doing without me. I have no idea what was my right at that point, but it worked.
After a guy was wheeling me back to security, he told me that he helped me get through it and check my bag so he thought he needed a tip. I couldn’t remember the help with anything, on top of they made me pay for something I would have argued if I had the time, but after all, he got me to the gate so I gave him a decent tip just to keep things calm. He told me that what I gave him wasn’t enough, and Next time I’ll check what I am allowed to take through security…
At the security
One of my favorite regulations is going through the security gate with a guide dog. Apparently there is a process, but it seems that at most airports nobody has a clue what it is. Finally, I started telling people that I recommend that I go first, when I clear, I call the dog. If it doesn’t work for you, please let me know what’s your preference. And since often they don’t have a clue, they happily agree. This is not necessarily my preference, but this is the fastest and safest way to do it. The reason why I don’t like it is because practically I get separated from my dog, and if that’s the case, I’d rather have him in front of me, but this would cause many unnecessary issues. Sometimes they don’t like my method, so I am asked to take the harness off the dog, which is not correct or necessary, or people want to take him from me, which is not a big deal, though I don’t think it is allowed, the biggest problem here is that the dog is going to listen to me, and not to a stranger.
The other issue at the security is when I need to unload my pockets and bags, and the person who is helping me packs it back together. With all due respect, I appreciate the help. However, it is not helping, because when they put stuff back to a different place where it was, it is harder for me to know that I have everything and that they made it to the right place. Usually everything has a place in my bag, not just out of habit, but for a specific reason. Even if they pack the bag the same was it was before, I have no idea if they did or not. It is just best to hand it to me, and if they would like to help, to ask. Most likely, I will not need help.
At the gate
One would think that when checked in, being through security, sitting at the gate, nothing can go wrong. Not in most cases. The number if issues decreased since I can track my flight on the phone. Previously, I had to ask somebody if the flight was on time, if there wasn’t a boarding announcement, I had to ask every 15-20 minutes just to be sure I’m not missing something. When I first switched flights in New York, I was 16 and didn’t speak English too well. Every time I asked the gate agent about the departure, he just told me not to worry, he will let me know. But it was an hour after the originally scheduled departure. While all people could just see the board, I was nervous about how I will get to my school, what happens if nobody would be waiting for me at the airport. It was my first trip alone as a kid, I think it is reasonable. But nothing happened, the flight was delayed, and the person who was waiting for me had an update of the flight. It was only me who was stressing.
In-flight entertainment
For a while, long flights were the most boring on earth. There was absolutely nothing to do. Ok, not anything that entertained me. There were some 10 channels to choose from, each with an hour of programming, and often not the best ones. It could have been the perfect opportunity to read a book or two. However, if I bring braille books with me, I can read more during a 12 hour flight than what they will let me carry on the plane. Just for comparison, the Bible is 37 volumes in braille, but I can put the print version into my handbag. Even if I brought a volume or two with me of anything, I read it in the first couple of hours and then I had to worry about dragging the books with me through the trip.
Another option was reading on the laptop, but those days the batteries didn’t last more than 3-4 hours, and there wasn’t an option to charge laptops during the trips. I still had flip phones, which we were required to turn off anyway, so unless I had a few interesting CDs, I was bored out of my mind, and if the classical channel was good enough on board, I listened to it over and over.
After about 2010 it all changed when batteries started to last longer, and later I could use my phone or tablet in airplane mode.
I can just download a few books and set my text to speech to read the books in audio mode, today it costs about 3 percent of my iPad’s charge per hour. Plus, I can bring an extra battery with me in case I can’t charge on the plane.
Spending days on flights are probably my most productive times of my life, I can catch up with reading or email without being disturbed by notifications or by the phone. I honestly hope that phone calls are not going to be allowed on flights.
Leave a comment