The New Neo

Commenter “physicsguy” observes:

… I was flying Southwest with their open seating policy [and] I observed that the number of wheelchair people at Delta, UA, American gates was about 50% less…those airlines have reserved seats. Many of the SW wheelchair people were in their 50s. I looked at it as a way to get first boarding even by passing the paid Group A pax.

Disney is running into the same issue and are cracking down. People were claiming disability and getting scooters and wheelchairs which then allowed them and their family to get first in line to rides again by passing both the paid lightning lane people and standbys. Disney said no more and now requires written medical documentation. I was wondering if Southwest does the same?

I had always assumed that in order to get disability boarding on the airlines one had to offer proof from a doctor, much as a person needs to do in order to get a handicapped placard for a car. But when I looked it up for physicsguy, I was surprised to see that I was wrong. Apparently, airlines are forbidden by law from requiring proof of disability. The whole thing is on the honor system, and although the airlines know that people abuse it, their hands are tied.

Here’s the scoop from a Southwest discussion board. The original question went like this:

I understand SWA has wonderful customer services, but departing Chicago yesterday to Florida (a miracle flight) the pre-board number was unreal. There were 10 wheelchairs (and some had person(s) accompanying them, 17 persons with canes (also with some person(s) accompanying them. So there were at least 40 pre-boards. When exiting the plane in Florida, the majority hopped up and exited asap. I even saw one person walking to her rental car in the garage without her cane. I had A-23, but was now A-63….I strongly suggest that SWA re-evaluate its pre-boarding procedure.

And the answer was this:

We follow federal regulations in offering preboarding to Customers with disabilities in order to comply with the Air Carrier Access Act: http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/publications/disabled.htm. Certainly and regrettably, some Customers have taken advantage of preboarding when they did not need it. Still, we cannot ask a Customer what their disability is or for “proof” of a disability. Additionally, we are unable to tell preboarding Passengers where they can/cannot sit on the aircraft (with exception of the emergency exit row). When a Customer requests to preboard, our Employees will ask 1) do you need assistance boarding the aircraft? and/or 2) do you have a specific seating need to accommodate your disability? If the answer to either question is yes, we must allow the Customer to preboard and we are only able to use these parameters to ascertain the legitimacy of a Customer’s preboarding request.

There is no question that some people will abuse this policy, but it seems the airlines are powerless to stop it, unless there’s been some change in the law since this 2017 discussion occurred. There is also no question that sometimes you can’t tell who is disabled by looking at the person; there are indeed invisible disabilities. In an airport, a passenger is usually required to walk long distances and might be carrying or pushing a bag. Some people who look completely fine and are not all that old might have significant trouble doing those things without assistance.

And even with handicapped placards for cars, which require documentation to get, people can and do abuse them. I’ve seen it happen with people I know, for example – where someone in the family is handicapped and got the placard, and then someone else uses it now and then. I’ve also seen genuinely handicapped people be harassed by others who think they don’t look handicapped enough to have the placard, and yet they are handicapped and need the help.

So the bottom line is that abuse will always happen, and harassment of the innocent will also happen. It seems to me, though, that the airline system, which requires no proof at all, is an invitation for people to take advantage.