Hog-tied Independence

We’ve all heard the story: person takes a flight, either for business or pleasure- but usually when time is of the necessity- only to find that when they land in their destination city, (name any assistive device) has been completely destroyed and is no longer able to be used. Airlines do not discriminate on which assistive device it is, as scooters, wheelchairs, crutches, canes, and walkers have all been destroyed during flight. With so little time, the person finds themselves fighting the airline company with how to fix it, when to fix it, and, unfortunately, whether it will be fixed before they have to get on the flight to return home. This is not to mention that these assistive devices are needed in every day lives. Needed for independence. These devices are not just on the plane to look pretty.

With the holidays just behind us, AAA reports that 94.5 million people traveled in some fashion in the past month. Which means that, more than likely, many of us with disabilities have just recently been put through this nonsense. Of course, disabled people travel year round, heading to job interviews, family vacations, honeymoons, and business meetings. Damaged equipment and the resulting chaos are all part of this experience. But to say this is an “experience” is putting this too lightly. This is complete and utter bullshit!

In 2009, United Airlines broke a singer/song writer’s $3500 Taylor guitar. After pursuing United Airlines for damages for 9 months with no success, the singer wrote a song titled “United Breaks Guitars” about the incident and posted it on Youtube.  United responded with a statement stating they were going to ‘provide their agents with a better way to respond to special situations. ‘ 14,455,592 views later and I’m sure United is feeling sorry they didn’t train their employees a little sooner. To top it off, the guitar company even got involved. They wrote a response to the song, stating their disappointment with the airline and gave the singer a brand new guitar.

This is all great, but let’s keep this in perspective, people!  All of this was for a guitar. This outrage was not for a device that will determine if someone can or cannot use the bathroom anytime soon, visit their family, do their job, or if they can even get off the plane at all. Don’t get me wrong, I love music and think it’s awesome that this guy made a PR nightmare for United. I’m just saying that maybe, just maybe, we have this a little bit out of proportion.

Why haven’t the wheelchair companies written a statement that they are tired of equipment getting damaged during flights? $3500 is nothing in comparison to the price of a new power wheelchair. But, let’s not be silly, we all know that the durable medical suppliers are always happy to increase their sales at the airlines expense. As I’ve already pointed out though, the monetary value is not what is so important here.

But, surely, with something this important, there is federal policy in place, so that a guitar is not favored more than a wheelchair, right? Well, sort of.

Currently, The Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) is what’s protecting us disabled folk from discrimination. The ACAA has been compared to the ADA of the airlines, in that it was created to protect people with disabilities from discrimination from the airline industry. However, its efforts seem to be aimed toward ensuring disabled people are not directly denied access to the opportunity to fly. In that, I believe it has been mostly successful. However, it appears that the airline may not be directly denying us the opportunity to fly, but they are indirectly doing so by breaking the very thing that our entire lives depend upon. The only analogy I can think of would be if the airline decided to hog-tie every 10th able- bodied person upon exiting the airplane. It’s not exactly hurting anyone, but it’s not how he or she had planned to exit either- and it will definitely hinder their ability to continue along their travels. I’m betting that if they, in fact, did this, the number of able-bodied fliers would begin to dwindle, as who wants to be tied up upon exiting?

In reading The ACAA, I found there to be very little information about how to fix or prevent damage to equipment. The closest it gets is providing a Complaint Resolution Official (CRO) to deal with any complaints. In theory, a disabled person is supposed to be offered the chance to speak with a CRO during a time of crisis. However, from what I hear, the burden is usually on the passenger to ask to speak with a CRO, whom many people do not know even exists. But however one finds to speak to this person, it’s not as though all has been solved. Of course, a resolution can take a great deal of time and effort on the part of the passenger, who is the one ultimately responsible for ensuring that the damages are fixed. According to the Department of Transportation’s annual report, there were 530 reports of damages to assistive devices in 2013.  However, they also explain that an airline receives 100 complaints for every single formal complaint filed with the DOT. Meaning that the airlines, in fact, received closer to 53,000 complaints for damages in 2013. This number seems a little closer, but then one can’t help but wonder how they define “complaints.” In my experience, I’ve never been asked to file a complaint with an airline, yet I’ve had plenty of times in which I was complaining about broken equipment.

Overall, it seems like the policy of the airlines is “Don’t break guitars, as it ends up on Youtube. Assistive devices, though, are fair game.”