The shocking way passengers are skipping airport queues
An increasing number of lazy travellers are skipping airport security and boarding gate queues by hiring a wheelchair.
Known as “airport wheelchair impostors”, there has been a disturbing increase in the number of people using this shocking tactic to get an easy ride through the terminal.
It’s become a particularly widespread problem in the US thanks to the 1986 Air Carrier Access Act.
The legislation states that airlines have to provide free wheelchairs to anyone who asks for them, even if travellers do not provide documentation proving their disability.
In Australia, wheelchairs are available for passengers to use in the public areas of some terminals, or alternatively they can be arranged with the airline you are flying with.
Understandably, passengers in wheelchairs often get to skip both the queue at security and the queue at the boarding gate.
According to the New York Times, airport workers have seen a spike in wheelchair requests when security lines are exceptionally long.
One flight attendant, who calls the practice “miracle flights” as the passenger uses a wheelchair to get on the plane but not to disembark, told the New York Times: “Not only do we serve them beverages and ensure their safety — now we’re healing the sick.”
“Airport wheelchair impostors” never request wheelchairs at the end of the flight as they’ll have to wait until the last person is off before disembarking – so it doesn’t save them time.
The Sun reports it of instances where passengers in airport-provided wheelchairs have miraculously been able to walk when the airline has been unable to locate a ramp to get the chairs onto the plane.
A source told the publication: “I’ve been at a boarding gate and the airline has said that anyone in a wheelchair would have to climb the stairs.
“Suddenly the two passengers in wheelchairs hopped out and climbed the stairs.”