Many travelers unnecessarily using wheelchairs to skip long queues: Report
What's the story
A report by CNBCTV 18 has flagged serious misuse of wheelchairs by travelers who use the service to skip long queues and avoid lengthy walks at airports.
Among the airlines whose service is allegedly being taken advantage of by travelers is Air India.
The airline gets over 100,000 such requests every month for domestic and international flights, with the highest demand on North America and United Kingdom routes.
Abuse
Instances of misuse raise concerns
The increase in requests is attributed to multiple reasons, including Air India's free-of-charge service, more elderly travelers, and healthy seniors opting for wheelchairs to speed up their airport experience.
However, the increase in wheelchair requests has raised concerns of misuse.
There have been instances where airport staff across various terminals reported passengers requesting wheelchair assistance only to walk normally after passing through security and immigration.
Numbers
50% passengers who requested wheelchair end up walking unaided
In certain cases, nearly half of the customers who requested wheelchair service end up walking alone after passing through inspections.
The report said that this misuse could lead to logistical challenges for airlines and compromise passenger safety by overbooking wheelchair services, which may prevent support for elderly or medically unwell passengers who genuinely need it.
It could also cause significant delays in turnaround times, affecting flight schedules.
Solutions
Possible solutions to curb misuse
To prevent the abuse of wheelchair services, possible solutions include asking younger passengers to provide medical documents while requesting a wheelchair or setting an age limit for requests.
Airports could also introduce alternative services like buggies or carts for elderly passengers who may not be sick but would like assistance in avoiding long walks.
Airlines could also limit the number of wheelchair requests per flight to allocate resources better.