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Ok, this is a strange rant...
I need to fly to Fla to see my dad who is not doing very well at all since my mom passed last year so I tried to book a flight on Air Transat to Toronto (where I pick up my best friend to fly to Fla to see daddy (kinda like her dad too)...so I booked my ticket 2 weeks ago and clicked on the 'need assistance' button (had minor surgery 2 weeks ago and can't lift luggage or carry anything)...
I put in my credit card info and clicked ok. 5 days later still didn't have a confirmed ticket. Called the online agency and after 5 phonecalls was told that the airline refused my ticket because I need assistance. (this is after I they made me to explain my medical condition in detail and the type of assistance I needed) Told me to cancel and rebook.
I did, clicked the assistance button and waited. Refused 3 days later. Same phonecalls and same results. One last try with the same results.
I finally tried a last time but did not click the assistance button. Bingo. Got my ticket immediately.
So I emailed the airline and explained the problem, got a phone number to call and spoke to someone in customer service...1hr later I had an extra baggage allowance (I carry tons of K pouch supplies when traveling plus suppliments etc) and an appology. Is this normal? Is it legal to refuse a passenger a seat if they require assistance?
Am pissed by this...
Sharon
So I called the airline
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Legal? Probably. Airlines have been deregulated. You weren't refused a seat, just online ticket purchase.

I would suspect your problem was because the online ticketing was not set up to handle the exception. But, you'd think that the "need assistance" option would have told you how to proceed (like call an agent). I know that when I book, I just book normally to purchase and confirm, then contact the airline customer service if I need something special, like an aisle seat, and do not want to wait for the 24-hours-before-the-flight-mad-rush-check-in.

The other option would be to book on the phone, but I like to see all the options in front of me when I book.

Jan Smiler
Sharon, Sorry to hear your Dad is not doing well and also about the trouble with booking your ticket.
Two weeks after my daughter's last surgery in January she flew back to college and I had booked it online and also clicked on the "needs assistance" option. I was so glad an airport person let me go to the gate with her. We thought of getting the wheelchair assistance so she wouldn't have to worry about anyone bumping into her new incision and she was not to pick up any luggage. The wheelchair wasn't a problem when we arrived. I pulled over and went in and told a red coat there that she needed a wheelchair and assistance and the woman that came with the wheelchair told me to park the car and come in and ask for a gate pass. I parked and then went to the desk and asked for a gate pass to assist my daughter with her carry on bag, and laptop bag and the "lovely" person at the desk told me, with a big smile on her face, "No". So when I went over to say goodbye to my daughter and told the attendant that I could not get a pass, she told me to come with her and she went to another person and I got a pass, very nice lady she was. I'm glad I was with her because she was dropped off at security and told someone else would help her after going through security and on to the plane, that didn't happen at security. I helped her with her bags and pushed her through security, so I don't know if she was alone if the agent would have lifted her bag to go through security or not... Then we rode on the golf cart thing to the gate. At the gate I asked the agent there if there was going to be someone to assist her with getting on the plane and her carry ons. She told me she would board prior to the other passengers. Well, she did not. She was actually the last person to board since they did not call for a wheelchair or assistance until we asked where the wheelchair and the person to assist her was and then it took about 15 mins for that person to come. My daughter told me the guy took her to the door of the plane in the wheelchair and then left her and her carryons there. She had to ask the flight attendant to help with the bags. Before she landed, she told the flight attendant that she would not exit the plane with out a wheel chair and assistance present at the plane to help her.
Long story, but it did work out after a few bumps and my daughter being persistent.

I hope all goes well and you have a good visit with your Dad.
It sounds like each airline is different and can be different within the airline depending on the employee. I checked handicapped when I booked a 2 plane flight, using freq flyer miles, and it wouldn't let me select my seat. I didn't like that as I pick them in the back by the restrooms in an aisle seat. When I printed off my tickets the night before the flights I was seated in first class in the aisle for both and I got to get on and off first. I don't think that happens at every airline either. They were not long flights but I enjoyed the extra room.

I hope you have a good visit with your father and BFF!
Delta Airlines was VERY helpful in an emergency situation for me, so airlines do vary greatly.

The night before we were scheduled to fly home from St. Martin to Virginia, I was mugged and my hip was broken in the process. (In our case, we already had our tickets in hand.) Incidentally, I had my k pouch then and now. Since the island wasn't equipped for essential surgery, after spending the night in a small hospital there, I flew home. The manager of our hotel, in front of which the mugging took place, packed all the stuff from our room and, with suitcases in his car, drove us to the airport. (He did give us a refund for that last night of planned vacation.)I had a wheelchair in the airport which got me all the way to the stairway to the plane. Two men carried me up the stairs. I ate and drank NOTHING so that I would not have to go to the restroom on the plane because I couldn't imagine how I could manage that. (The nurses in the French hospital were concerned that I touched nothing from my breakfast tray!) When the plane arrived at Charlotte, I was carried off the plan, put in a wheelchair and my husband rolled me into a handicapped restroom at the airport and came in with me. I hopped onto the toilet, took care of essentials, hopped back into the wheelchair and my husband wheeled me to the gate.

Once again, some airline employees carried me onto the plane and to my seat. I managed to get off the plane, again with employee help, and a wheelchair was there to wheel me to our car which my husband drove to the door. Delta didn't charge an extra cent for all the help.

Finally in Virginia, my husband drove me to the hospital and I had surgery to repair my broken hip. Eight weeks of bed rest later, I was as ambulatory as ever.

Incidentally, I was 69 years old at the time. Also, (surprise) we've chosen other vacation destinations since that episode. Being mugged once there was quite enough!
Someone up there really did not want me flying air transat this trip...got packed and to the airport in great time (6 am for a 9am flight) only to discover that I forgot my purse at home!!!!!!!!!! NO passport, papers, cards or money...back home in full morning traffic, missed my flight, rebooked another on a different airline, back to the bloody airport, (hubby was an angel! Not a peep, no harrangues or recrimination just loving support...What the? This heart attack has changed him totally)...anyway I took out my handicaped card, got into the priority lineup, registered and they had me wait on in designated seating for the assistance...lovely people, kindhearted and smiling...they got me to the gate, deposited me in a seat and left...and never came back! When the flight was called, the plane boarded, all of the passangers gone (I had spoken to the gate personel, there were 3 flights of stairs with no elevator plus the stairs up into the plane...I could never have done it with my carry-on, purse etc)...they freaked by 5 mins to take off when me and another assistance passanger still had no assistance...they found somone, got us into a huge hydrolic box, waited another 10 minutes and were finally driven towards the plane...but the plane was gone.
The guy was swearing...couldn't find the plane...droved around on the tarmack between and around planes for 1/2 hr...lost the plane...finally found it! Got us on and I had no seat. Found me one and I collapsed. When I landed here, I gave up on assistance, pulled, pushed and yanked my stuff up and down ramps but survived...am exhausted!
Sharon
My pouch is misbehaving here...jetlag, exhaustion, different foods, different scheduels and all of the additives in the food here have me bloated, swollen and incapable of emptying correctly...had 1/2 omlette with 1/2 toasted bagel this morning and I still cannot get rid of it...feel like I ate the plate and cutlery with the bagel!
got to get back to fresh fruits, veggies and fish.
sharon
This past November I flew Southwest Airlines (Hartford to Tampa) and I observed that they gave priority seating to passengers with medical conditions. The prioritization had nothing to do with online booking. I presume that those persons booked online, arrived at the gate, explained their situation and were given boarding preference. Online booking is not set up to handle special requests because on the Internet anyone can say anything. In fact we have seen proof of that on this very website with Ronald McColon.

I thought Southwest Airlines has a very good boarding system which seemed fair to me.

I should note that I did not ask for, nor do I deserve anything special other than not sitting near a window. Both times I booked online I was in the high "B" category despite booking within seconds of the expiration of the 24 hour window to start online booking. But both times I got an aisle seat which is all I need. After watching videotape of the crash of that jet in SF, I may think twice about sitting in the back of the plane which is usually what I do.
I don't think this was about traveling with a normal pouch, but for someone needing extra assistance (such as help with bags, wheelchair assistance at the gate, that sort of thing). And you are right, that often, this has to be handled after you book a regular seat online, or booking through an agent (where you may loose your internet discount).

For example, with British Airways, you have to pay extra for advance seat selection, unless you are handicapped and/or need assistance. For that you need to call an agent unless you have been prearranged for the seat assignments. It varies with each airline how it is handled. If you are in a wheelchair, only certain seats have removable arms for access, so it has to be handled by an agent to release those seats. They can't refuse you a seat unless the only seats left are the exit row, which you cannot sit in if you need assistance.

Jan Smiler
I was flying U S Airways from Atlanta to Charlotte and then to Des Moines. They are part of American/United airlines. I did check the box "handicapped" when I booked the flight on-line.

I was using a cane at the time because of neuropathy, both of my feet are numb, and the muscles in my legs where problematic due to my fibromyalgia. I was falling a lot. I'm sure if I didn't appear to need any special assistance I wouldn't have received the special seating. When I checked the box I wasn't expecting special seating. I realized I had it when my boarding passes printed.

I have a handicapped parking permit for my car as well. I have never used it yet as I have not needed it. Probably because when I feel bad I stay at home.

Judge not least ye be judged. Again, people with hidden illnesses can have the same illness and one person can be high functioning and another low functioning. One may need a walker and the other can run a 10K.

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