Myranda Shields and Justin Walker’s trip to Richmond, Virginia, for the National Wheelchair Basketball Association national championships wasn’t a breeze.
Walker, who plays for the Phoenix Suns’ D2 wheelchair team, said that when he and his teammates arrived in Virginia, they found what his girlfriend (Shields) and another wheelchair basketball player rolling described as a 300 piece puzzle. Baggage handlers had separated the wheels from dozens of wheelchair frames as they were loaded onto the plane.
“When we got there, it was like they weren’t prepared to welcome us at all. There’s been no communication from Denver, like, ‘We just threw you the biggest freight mess in the world,'” Shields told USA TODAY. “All the wheels are off our chairs and they don’t have extra employees to help us. »
A video on social media shows the scene of Shields and Walker’s arrival in Richmond.
The Suns flew on Southwest Airlines from Phoenix to Richmond via Denver on April 10, and Shields said there were a few other teams participating in the tournament on their flight. She said tournament organizers had been in contact with Richmond Airport operators and with Southwest for months before the event to make sure everyone was prepared, but the system still failed. collapsed for players during their journey.
“We understand what we’re asking for, what we need to bring, it’s more than a normal passenger. That’s why we’re moving forward and communicating,” Walker told USA TODAY. “The lack of knowledge is unreal. It’s just sickening.
Shields said the scene upon arrival in Richmond was so chaotic that the gate agent eventually called the police because many players and other travelers were going back and forth in the jetway to retrieve pieces of their wheelchairs that had been separated. Some of the travelers in the group didn’t use wheelchairs, and some of those who brought wheelchairs have some mobility without their devices, so they were able to work on piecing things together.
The situation has not improved in the baggage claim area.
“When we got to baggage claim, the people that were there didn’t have enough staff for this situation,” Shields said. Airport workers were telling passengers that bags had been left outside the plane to accommodate the unusually high number of wheelchairs, causing frustration among everyone in the arrivals hall.
“It was crazy the way the passengers were yelling at us. It was just horrible. They were just blaming it on the wheelchairs,” Shields said.
Southwest’s airport manager in Richmond sent an email to team captains and event organizers acknowledging the incident.
“I wanted to apologize to the teams who experienced a prolonged delay and negative experience arriving here at RIC over the past two days. There has been communication with all cities involved in your travel plans for over a month and our goals were to make your travel experience as smooth as possible. We have failed many of you on our end,” the email, reviewed by USA TODAY, said.
In a separate statement to USA TODAY, Southwest Airlines said it would strive to do better.
“We have reviewed the situation and addressed it with the relevant parties. We value our customers and have incorporated their feedback to strive to provide them with a better experience on their next flight with Southwest,” the statement said. “We apologize whenever we fail to meet customer expectations and we have a long history of taking care of our customers. »
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For Shields and Walker, the statements don’t go far enough, saying they encountered similar problems on the return trip as they connected at Chicago Midway.
“For me, it’s the lack of listening from Southwest employees and ground staff,” Walker said. “If we have to listen to them about how many times the plane goes out, if we have to listen to them about what to do and what not to do, then they should have the decency to listen to us.”
Shields and Walker said they want Southwest to improve its communications with travelers with disabilities and provide more in-depth training for baggage handlers who handle mobility equipment.
US Airlines Damage Thousands of Mobility Devices Every Year
According to the Department of Transportation, Shields and Walker’s experience is hardly an exception. In 2023, U.S. airlines transported 835,327 wheelchairs and other mobility aids, and 11,527 damages were reported, a rate of 1.38 devices damaged per 100 transported.
While this is a slight improvement over 2022 statistics, advocates say even a single incident of damage to mobility devices is too large and want to see airlines bring those numbers down to zero if they want to claim to be accessible to all travelers.
Zach Wichter is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in New York. You can reach him at [email protected].
