26 May 2022
Using a power chair doesn’t have to mean that your days of holidaying abroad are behind you. In this two part series, we speak to Phil Friend OBE Hon D.Sc, a power chair user himself and one of the UK’s foremost consultants on disability matters, to get his advice on going abroad when you’re a power wheelchair user.
Starting with the planning.
Holidaying abroad when you or the person you care for is in a wheelchair can be an anxious time for everyone involved. “It can be very very stressful,” says Phil. “And the way to avoid stress, is to know how the system works. So, research, research, research.”
Rather than trying to book hotels and flights yourself, you may find it easy to find a tour operator that’ll do it all for you. “Choose the tour operators that have some idea about how to manage people who’re disabled,” Phil recommends. “There are specialist tour companies that will do that. So, my first port of call would be to book via one of those services. They will be able to advise you about all sorts of things. And they’ll know the destinations.”
This doesn’t mean that you won’t need to do your research, it just means you’ll have someone knowledgeable to help you plan your holiday, answer your questions, and make sure it runs smoothly.
If you have the option to choose your seat on the flight, it’s worth some very careful consideration to make sure you get the best seat for your needs.
“Window seats are sometimes better,” says Phil, “but it’s harder to get you in it. An aisle seat is much easier. But passengers to the side of you have now got to step over you.”
You should also consider choosing a seat near to the front of the plane. “The reason you want to be near the front is so you don’t have that horrible journey all the way through the aircraft,” says Phil. “If you’re being transferred out of an aisle chair into a seat, the last thing you want is to be pulled all the way through the plane.”
“One thing to check is, how does wheelchair assistance work at this particular airport?” says Phil. “It’s always different. It doesn’t matter where you go, how many times you’ve flown, you have Fred one week and Betty the next and they all do it differently. So check with the passenger assistance service at the particular airport, what they provide to help you get from either the car park to the terminal building or whether they’ll meet you in the terminal building and then what they do from there.”
You should be able to find information online on the airport’s website about passenger assistance service. Some airports may request that you book onto this assistance service through your airline or travel operator, while others may request that you book with them directly. It can vary depending on the airport, so make sure to check.
It’s worth noting that the airline is only responsible for your care once you’re aboard the plane, when you’re in the airport, it’s the airport passenger assistance service that’s responsible for you.
Preparation is everything and with so much going into holiday planning, it can all get a little overwhelming.
“I would urge everybody who flies to make a checklist,” says Phil, “and I mean really quite detailed. Do it as a process, so you start at home and then you check things off. It is so reassuring to be prompted.”
Having a checklist that covers everything, from arranging passenger assistance and getting fit to fly letters from your GP right the way through to the minutiae of what you need to pack in what bag, can help make sure nothing is forgotten.
Holidays can come with a lot of paperwork. This could include sorting out passports, travel insurance, getting a fit to fly letter from your GP (if the airline requires it) or getting documentation to confirm that any medications you’re taking with you are yours and necessary (if needed). The NHS has some information available on taking medications with you when travelling.
Before you get too deep into your holiday planning, don’t forget to check the date on your passport and check when it expires. This is especially true if you’re planning on visiting an EU country as now the rules on passport validity have changed. To get entry into the EU, your passport needs to have been issued in the last 10 years and have at least three months left on it from the date you plan to head home. However, some countries prefer a minimum of six months, so it’s best to err on the side of caution.
It’s also important to make sure you’ve got the right travel insurance in place to cover you while you’re away. It’s worth checking if it would also cover your power chair too or if your existing power chair insurance (if you have it) will cover the chair while you’re abroad. Make sure to save the insurance helpline number to your phone or write it down somewhere safe so you have it to hand should you need to contact them.
You may also find it useful to get a free Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) which could potentially help reduce medical costs abroad should you need healthcare.
Something else to bear in mind: you’ll need to know all the information about the battery your power wheelchair uses. “What batteries does it have? That’s the first question they ask you,” says Phil. “You will need to be able to show that it’s safe to fly with in the hold. So, you’ll need a certificate.” This certificate should say what the output of the battery is, and you can usually get them from the manufacturer or sometimes from the place you purchased it from originally.
Do you have a removeable wheelchair cushion? Don’t be afraid to remove it from the chair and use it on the flight. This way you can be a little more comfortable while you’re in the air. It’s recommended to double-check this with the airline, but as long as you’re still able to use the seatbelt it should be fine.
There is another key consideration with your comfort on the plane. Namely, using the toilet. If you’re catheterised, this is less of an issue, but if you aren’t then it’s an issue that requires some careful thought. Airplane bathrooms are incredibly small and there is no way during the flight that you can be carried to one to make use of the facilities.
The length of the flight will affect how big of an issue this is for you. Managing toileting on a short flight is easier than on a long haul one. You may be able to use a urinal on the flight – this is much easier for men than women – and have the person you’re travelling with empty it for you afterwards, but there are privacy issues with this.
Another option is to look into continence care products, such as pants or pads, to help you during the journey. It’s advisable, if you go this route, to get products with the highest absorbency and carry spares with you so that you can use the facilities at your destination airport to change once you land, should you need to.
It’s also worth speaking with your GP, to see if they have any suggestions or advice to help with this.
It’s really important to get to know your wheelchair and how it works. “Find out how to use the free wheel devices on the chair,” says Phil. “In order for the airline to take it off you [at the airport] and park it in the hold, they’ve got to be able to push it, they’re not going to get in it and drive it, so you have to turn the free wheels on and you have to know how to switch the battery off so that it’s disarmed – that means unplugging a cable.”
It’s also a good idea to learn how to remove the controller on your chair (and put it back on again) as if you leave it alone, there’s a potential for damage.
“It removes the ability for your chair to be damaged. That’s really what it’s about,” says Phil. “You can remove certain things like the headrest, things like that can be taken off so that they’re not damaged in transit.”
You don’t want to be caught working these things out in the stressful environment of the airport, so it’s important to figure these things out before you leave home.
It’s always a good idea to allow plenty of time to get through check-in, security, and customs. The airport may suggest a recommended time of arrival – this could be two or three hours. Given the recent troubles that many airports have had getting passengers through security, it may be wise to err on the side of caution when planning your arrival time.
This should help give you an idea of what you need to plan and look into before your holiday to help make sure it goes as smoothly as possible. Next time, we’ll be looking at what happens once you arrive at the airport and what the process is like as a power wheelchair user.
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