The Flying Circus 2 - Packing

I'm talking here about what you bring onto the plane - not what you pack for your trip. Diapers (nappies), wipes, a change of clothes snacks, sandwiches, drink, books, crayons, small silent toys, a favorite teddy and a blanket or cardigan. And that’s just for the kids! They will get too cold, or too hot.

I used to scoff at my wife for packing enough snacks and sandwiches to feed a small army for every flight, saying that we could get food on-board. I changed my mind after we were stuck on the ground for two plus hours after boarding – not once, but twice. In this limbo between boarding and take-off the airline staff cannot serve food or drink. Two hours in an eternity for a toddler or baby. Had we not had our rations, the children would have gone off the deep end with hunger and frustration. So now I smile benignly as she stuffs her carry-on bag to its limit.

Be alert to the likelihood that whatever book or toy or teddy is brought aboard stands a good chance of being lost unless you are exceptionally vigilant. So if it’s the favorite teddy tie it onto something!

Also, be aware that you cannot bring drinks through security – so plan to buy them on the other side. Other things subject to confiscation are yogurts (the tubes seem to be okay) and play-doh.

The Flying Circus 1 - Booking your flight

Planning for a successful trip begins right at the earliest stage - booking the flights. Don't just go by price. You may save a few dollars up front but believe me, when you have missed your connection in some ice-bound airport at 2am you would happily pay hundreds of dollars to be somewhere else! I book based on connections, airports and times - price has the least input.

Usually I use a search site like www.sidestep.com to find out what airlines fly to where I want to go and to get a feel for the prices. Then I go directly to the airline sites and search by schedule to find the best flights. What I'm looking for is:

Connections:
Preferably none. In fact, always none. Unless there is no direct flight, the risks of taking a connection are too high. I have arrived at one airport while my wheelchair went to another. I have arrived at airports and been left waiting for forty-five minutes before the staff turned up to lift me off the plane. I have had to wheel from one end of an airport to another in an effort to make my gate for the connecting flight. None of this is pleasant when you are travelling alone, but with children the stress levels are just not worth it.

If you do need to make a connection then leave at least two and a half hours between flights. I know that hanging around an airport for two plus hours is no fun, especially with little ones, but anything shorter is really too risky. Consider this – a lot of flights these days take off late (although this trend seems to be improving as airlines cut back on flights and capacity during this downturn). An "on-time departure" to an airline is anything less than fifteen minutes late. Many flights I have been on are between 15 and 45 minutes late leaving the gate. So, assume you will be thirty minutes late taking off. The pilot may or may not make up time so assume you are thirty minutes late landing. Now, everyone on the plane has to get off before you do. I have noticed that, if there are 180 people on the plane, 177 of them will disembark within a few minutes of landing. Two will take another ten minutes. And then there's you. So, about twenty-five minutes after landing you are finally able to transfer to your chair (assuming they deliver it to the gate. I have also had the chair arrive at the right airport, but then get delivered to the baggage hall!) You are now 55 minutes behind schedule, you need to be at the next gate forty minutes before they take off. So you pat yourself on the back for leaving two and a half hours between flights because you now have just under an hour to find your gate, go to the restroom, change diapers, and so on. To be fair, this is the worst case. But I prefer the buffer of time to the rush of adrenalin as you race for a connection with screaming kids in tow.

And all of this planning goes to pieces if your flight is significantly delayed or, worse, cancelled. Really - you don't want to connect if you can possibly avoid it. I will pay a few hundred dollars more to avoid a connection.

Airports:
Small is good. If you want to go to LA, consider Orange county airport. If flying to the Washington D.C. area consider Ronald Reagan (DCA) instead of Dulles. I find the staff are better trained and the airport easier to navigate when it is small. If you are connecting then avoid Northern airports (Chicago, JFK) in winter and Southern airports (Atlanta, Dallas) in Summer - both because of weather delays. Be aware that large sprawling airports (such as ORD) can be very difficult to transfer through quickly if you are in a wheelchair.

Times:
Try to think through the kids' schedule. The important thing is to try to keep the food and nap schedule as close to normal as possible. You will board the plane possibly as much as forty minutes before the scheduled take-off, and the "fasten safety belt" light will be turned off about ten minutes after take-off, which could be about thirty minutes after the plane has left the gate in a busy airport. So that 60 or 90 min period is one in which the kids won't get uninterrupted sleep and you will be unable to feed them properly or change diapers. So try to plan the flights so that these are normal "awake times". This is really difficult to do, but you will be rewarded if you can manage it by kids that are minutely less grumpy than they would be otherwise.

If you can't get ideal times (and who can with schedules?) then think through the consequences of the times. If you are due to take off right at dinner time, arrive early at the airport, go through security and give yourself time to have an early dinner before you board.

If your child is under 2 years old, he can be booked as a “lap child”. This means they don’t get their own seat, but travel on one or the other parents lap. This is worth it as ti saves a significant amount of money – but you have to decide if you can deal with an infant on your lap for the flight. If you do book a seat, remember that you will need a flight approved child-seat for an under two.

Most airlines ask you to call in advance and inform them that you are in a wheelchair and what you requirements are. This is a good idea – although frankly I never do it. But my requirements are minimal as I have a manual chair and can do most of my own transfers. However, if you do call, do not assume that the information you provide will get imparted to the check-in staff, or ground- or air- staff on your flight. It might – but it might not. Incompetence is rife in the airline industry.

The Flying Circus - Introduction

This series of entries is a summary of the lessons learned while flying with a wheelchair, a patient walkie (my wife) and two kids under three. Getting this whole show through an airport and onto an airplane is definitely a circus but we have flown internationally many times with (reasonable) success. And it definitely gets easier the older the kids get! If you use a wheelchair and plan to fly, with or without kids, hopefully these notes will help you!

In 1969 the BBC first broadcast Monty Python's Flying Circus. It exemplified an off-beat, surrealistic sense of humor. Such a sense of the absurd is a valuable skill to have if you are contemplating air travel with two tots and a wheelchair. Anyone who travels in a wheelchair  knows that it is no joke. And anyone who has traveled with tiny children knows that it too is no joke. But combine these and you get a true Flying Circus, complete with performing animals and a clown!

We have made the journey from Washington, D.C. to Dublin, Ireland several times with the kids. We have also flown to San Diego and Aruba. This entry is an attempt to share the (little) advice I can offer after these experiences. I'm not saying that you will be guaranteed a pleasurable and stress free journey if you follow these steps - such a thing is impossible - but they may help ease the pain a little. The following entries cover booking your flight, packing for the flight, dealing with the airport, going through security, boarding the plane,  landing and finally dealing with jet-lag. Note that these notes assume a long-haul flight, possibly over night. Short haul is definitely easier!

El Segundo (Los Angeles, LAX), CA, USA - Hotel (Hilton Garden Inn)

The Hilton Garden Inn LAX/El Segunda is located almost two miles from LAX (Los Angeles International airport) in the business district of El Segunda. These notes are intended to assist wheelchair users considering using the hotel. I do not review hotel facilities except where they impact wheelchair users since there are plenty of sites on-line (e.g.www.tripadvisor.com)  that cover that stuff! This hotel is within easy striking distance of LAX and has free self-parking which is a big advantage in this area.

Level access from parking lot through automatic doors. The lobby and restaurant are fully accessible.

My room on this occasion was a king bed, ADA accessible, with bath. The room was very large with plenty of space to maneuver and just enough furniture. Very comfortable to move around.  The workdesk was of a good size and height and easily reached by wheelchair. Two sockets were mounted on the wall at table height and easy to use. Wired Ethernet in the room worked well (free).

The bed was slightly higher than the wheelchair but still relatively easy to transfer in and out of.  Bedroom closet was fine - split into two, one section for wheelies and one for walkies. A/C controls were at a comfortable height. The TV control was left by the TV and easily accessible. Coffee maker, microwave and fridge were all easily accessible.

The bathroom was large with plenty of turning space. The sink was easy to use, and the toilet was low. Grab bars were well positioned. A plastic seat was left in the bathroom for use if necessary. The bath was low and easy to get in and out of, although the grab bars are positioned high - more for ambulant disabled than for wheelies. The shower was a hand-held rose, on a sliding bar. This was a little high for reaching from the bath but the controls are easy to reach. The towels were placed on a low towel rack and easy to reach.

All in all this room was extremely comfortable and strongly recommended for wheelchair users visiting the area. It is worth noting that there is a Green Line metro station right by the hotel, with an elevator although I did not use the metro myself.

San Diego, CA, USA - Hotel (Holiday Inn, Rancho Bernardo)

The Holiday Inn Rancho Bernardo is located in Rancho Bernardo in the suburbs of San Diego. These notes are intended to assist wheelchair users considering using the hotel. I reviewed the hotel before, here. At that time I gave it 2 out of 5 and it made the "worst three hotels" list - with the dubious honor of being the worst in the United States in terms of a comfortable, wheelchair accessible room. However, it is one of the cheaper hotels in the area so I ended up staying here again. On this occasion I was given a different room, and had a better experience. So this time it gets 3 and a half out of five giving it an average rating of 2.5 points and, to be fair, lifting it out of the "three worst" list.

The property is in two parts. The accessible rooms seem to be in the main part where reception is located. The lobby and breakfast area are fully accessible and there is level access from outside through automatic doors - no ramp necessary.

My room on this occasion was a king bed, ADA accessible, roll-in shower. Having just one king bed instead of the two queens of the last visit made all the difference in terms of space to move around.  The workdesk was of a good size and height with one easily reached socket in the desk lamp. Wifi in the room worked well (free).

The bed was slightly lower than the wheelchair and relatively easy to transfer in and out of.  Bedroom closet was fine. A/C controls were reachable but a little high. The TV control was left by the bed and easily accessible. Coffee maker, microwave and fridge were all usable.

The bathroom was a comfortable size with good turning space (unlike the last time). The sink was easy to use, and the toilet was low. Grab bars were well positioned. The shower had a large plastic shower seat which was tricky to transfer in and out of. The shower also had two hoses. One was a hand-held rose, on a sliding bar with it's own water controls. This was ideally placed for use from the shower seat. Unfortunately the water control had a heat regulator that was set too low so the water never got warm. Since I'm not too keen on cold showers I was unable to use this rose. The other rose is a fixed, wall mounted rose high in the shower. To use it involved dragging the shower seat to the other end of the shower and transferring there was a lot more difficult. Towels were placed on a rack above the toilet and were extremely difficult to reach.

It was a pity about the shower as otherwise this room was not bad - about middle of the road for accessible American hotels (and, to be fair, American hotels tend to be a lot more accessible than elsewhere in the world!). I've removed the hotel from the "three worst" list and recommend that if you are planning to stay here you insist on a King bed, accessible room and avoid the two doubles.