Air travel these days has become both cheap and convenient and often involves less planning that a long road trip. Although much more planning is required with new screening procedures at airports due to the anti-terrorism laws, by and large air travel with a disabled partner can still be an enjoyable experience. There is a plethora of difficulties that accompany the disabled as they attempt to fly in a commercial capacity these days but a conscientious travel partner can plan ahead and avoid any obstacles.

Airport Transfer and Handicap Parking

The first challenge is often simply getting into an airport. While the laws state that there must be a certain amount of handicapped parking available, it is quite often already in use and still can present a long walk from the parking garage to the terminal. If you are looking at an airport transfer, a conventional taxi may not do if your partner is wheelchair-bound.

Handicap Check Points at the Airport

One of the difficulties in check-in is that while it might take an average healthy individual up to two hours to get through the check points in the boarding line, a handicapped person going through that same line could take longer.

There are often more items that need to be checked because often a disabled individual will have metal objects like canes, braces and wheelchairs that set off the metal detectors. In addition, a large cache of medication may have to be checked and screened prior to boarding the plane. All of this can cause not only a loss of time but some amount of stress to both the disabled traveler and their partner.

Oxygen Tanks and Medication for the Disabled Air Traveler

It is also good to remember that the TSA agents at the airport in the United States have to make sure the flights are safe and so therefore scrutinize everything and anything. If the disabled person need items like specific liquids or oxygen in order to sustain themselves, then these items will cause more of a delay in the check through lines.

It is possible to avoid much of this by putting such items in checked baggage but many people do not trust doing that and should that luggage be lost the disabled person’s health could be at risk in some cases. The best advise here is to make sure that everything you will be carrying on works and that you know how to make it function so that if the airport employees need to see it operate you can do so to prove that it is a functioning item.

Handicap Facilities in the Airport

It is also a good idea when trekking through an airport to keep in mind where the nearest restroom is because the last thing anyone wants is to be rushing around on a wheelchair in search of a toilet. Knowing the location of more than one restroom is useful especially if you are faced with an occupied stall where the occupant is taking longer than usual.