Help at airports

[time please]

I love traveling, whether by car sea or plane. I enjoy getting to the airport far too early, enjoying the excitement, being in the lounge etc. But here is my problem, for the last five tears I use crutches to walk and airports are difficult. I now have to rely on assistance at most airports. It is a quite ( can be ) brutal experience because all your dignity is taken away. Some airports are much better than others. CDG is brilliant, Spain Greece and Portugal are good. Heathrow is ghastly, in the three terminals I have used it is the same. Wheelchair to a holding pen and then just left there, all the time wondering if you have been forgotten. Gatwick is slightly better because the holding area is in the same area as other passengers.
So do any of you have any thoughts or experience regarding this?

[scrub]

So do any of you have any thoughts or experience regarding this?

We've had to use assistance at airports for both my parents and in-laws quite a bit. In our experience, it depends more on the airline and flight length than the airport.
Etihad, Emirates, EVA, and Qantas have all been fine for long haul flights, Singapore Air too. For short hops, budget airlines like Ryanair and Easyjet have been wildly variable, and Lufthansa, Qantas, and Virgin were all OK for the most part. Air France seemed very attentive to passengers needing assistance, but that's just from my observation, not experience.
As for airports, Dubai and Abu Dhabi seem well set out and have facilities and help for people in need.

[sejintenej]

My wife is handicapped (wheelchair but can walk just a short distance) and we had excellent help at Gatwick North this summer. Yes, you are corralled in an area close to ordinary passenger for a few minutes until a helper takes a group through an security check. Then straight to the waiting area (due to her bank we had a special area) . Shortly before the flight was due to be loaded a helper came, collected her (and us) and got us on to the plane early. Excellent help so far.

OK, we are on the plane, wait a while and wait some more - and more, pull out towards the runway and stop and wait and wait and wait. So, early in the morning (? 2 or 3 am) we are informed that the flight and our holidays have been cancelled by Tui because they have no beds at our destination**. Taken back to the terminal and told to get off the plane with absolutley no assistance or even wheelchairs. Am told we will get the rest of the promised restitution

** A fellow passenger was on the phone to his mate in our destination airport and learned that the local hotels were sending the passengers to the airport and dumping them; the truth is unclear

[Fidésien]

My wife and I have both been hobbling around arthritically with walking poles for the past few months. In September we flew down from Edinburgh to Luton with EasyJet; requested Passenger Assistance and it worked very well at both ends. A few days later we returned on a Sunday evening flight from Heathrow. But it was a very different experience: a very long wait in a holding area overrun by passengers on a flight to Islamabad; eventually two chairs and pushers turned up, rushed us through Security where I lost a pair of reading glasses; and then abandoned us at the Desk, where we waited for not quite three hours. British Airways had scheduled a plane but no crew ! I wrote to British Airways to complain vigorously. Two months later I have a weaselly reply; offering neither explanation nor apology; and saying that the plane was [only] 145 minutes late, and we did not therefore qualify for any refund. Customer Service of which RyanAir might have been proud ? More recently I have flown from Edinburgh to Brussels [Charleroi] and back with EasyJet with Passenger Assistance, and it was all very good.

[dsm]

You’re right Fidesien to put a question mark after Ryan Air. Last Christmas my wife and I travelled to Dublin with them for a long weekend break. The flight was delayed by about four hours due to some mechanical problem. They gave us a voucher for a coffee and a snack at the café and I filled in a complaints form without much hope. To my great surprise a few days later I received 500 euros, far in excess of our tickets. They certainly went up in my esteem.

[Otter]

You’re right Fidesien to put a question mark after Ryan Air. Last Christmas my wife and I travelled to Dublin with them for a long weekend break. The flight was delayed by about four hours due to some mechanical problem. They gave us a voucher for a coffee and a snack at the café and I filled in a complaints form without much hope. To my great surprise a few days later I received 500 euros, far in excess of our tickets. They certainly went up in my esteem.

The refund was not due to Ryanair's graciousness, but because they are required to do this by law.

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/t ... dex_en.htm

(This would not have applied in Fidésien's case because neither the departure nor destination location is in the EU.)

[sejintenej]

The refund was not due to Ryanair's graciousness, but because they are required to do this by law.

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/t ... dex_en.htm

(This would not have applied in Fidésien's case because neither the departure nor destination location is in the EU.)

Very possible but day by day I see detailed complaints about a large travel company including flight cancellations and worse. The airline seems to wait for man y months before saying get knotted or equivalent It LOOKS like they are ignoring applications to the Small Claims Court.