NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business / Companies / Airlines

Inside Money: Wheelchairs on planes - it could be worse (or more expensive)

Herald online
22 May, 2013 09:30 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Image / Thinkstock

Image / Thinkstock

Opinion by

The case of the airplane wheelchair refusnik has sparked many questions in the national press.

Herald columnist Deborah Hill-Cone, for instance, in her reflective piece of self-confessed middle-aged mellowing attracted a barrage of responses, which covered the spectrum from calm to apoplectic in tone.

But my brief analysis suggests that the amazing diversity of replies can be boiled down into three fundamental categories:

• Those who, like Hill-Cone, have a sense (in varying degrees of conviction) that giving up your allocated seat for a disabled fellow-traveler is probably the decent thing to do;

• Hard-line consumers who maintain an issued boarding pass grants them non-negotiable seat occupation rights, and;

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

• People with direct experience of wheelchair flying conditions and its attendant difficulties.

As someone who falls into the latter group, I'd like to make an argument for wheelchair-passenger aircraft preferential seating rights based on efficiency rather than compassion. For compassion, as psychologist tell us is a soft quality subject to fatigue while efficiency, economists tell us, is a hard-wired human factor underwriting most of our actions.

Traveling recently with a group of disabled youth I witnessed first-hand the logistical challenges of wheelchair/aircraft interchange.

Boarding a late plane out of Christchurch we had three wheelchair-bound passengers to load.

This is not a high-tech process. Passengers transfer (by themselves or with assistance) out of their own wheelchairs into an airline-supplied aisle-chair on the tarmac. The aisle-chair is then pushed into what looks like a tin garden shed mounted on a fork-lift.

Discover more

Opinion

Inside Money: Austerity now - was 1951 our most influential year?

22 Apr 09:30 PM
Opinion

Inside Money: Why Fisher made quick-fire changes

24 Apr 09:30 PM
Opinion

Inside Money: NZ Super ventures in the distressed zone

01 May 09:30 PM
Opinion

Inside Money: New KiwiSaver relationship blooms for BNZ

06 May 09:30 PM

The fork-lift driver raises the chair up to the right height before attempting to align the garden shed with the airplane door; don't imagine any Soyuz-International Space Station scenarios here - instead picture a split tennis ball mounted on a two-metre pole jutting out from a garden shed.

When the tennis ball hits the fuselage sweet spot ("yeah, that'll do") a flight attendant rolls out a ramp, connecting garden shed with plane door. Off you go.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

I estimate each transfer took about five minutes. If you had to drag the aisle chair to the back of the plane, rather than offload each passenger at the first available seat, add another two-to-three minutes at least.

With more wheelchairs about (aging population, medical advances saving lives without necessarily restoring full function) airlines - and able-bodied passengers - have a real economic incentive to ensure disabled embarkation operates smoothly: longer load times=lower profits and/or higher ticket prices.

Normally, booking staff should be aware of the issue and allocate wheelchair seats appropriately. But, as the "well-turned-out" blonde incident illustrates, things don't always go to plan.

It didn't go to plan for us. Fortunately, the ultra-professional flight attendant took the initiative, making a unilateral decision to seat the wheelchair passengers upfront.

The first two reseated customers were unfazed by the new arrangements when asked politely by the flight attendant if they "would mind" shifting. However, passenger three (whose description uncannily fits that of well-turned-out blonde) minded.

"I suppose I'm going to have to," she whined, which, minus the attitude, is the right answer.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Airlines

Airlines

Qantas cyber attack: Millions affected as names, contact details stolen

02 Jul 03:50 AM
Airlines

Spain court suspends huge Ryanair 'abusive practices' fine

27 Jun 05:33 AM
Airlines

Tinder for airlines: 'Matchmaker’ service created for sustainable aviation fuel

27 Jun 05:12 AM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Airlines

Qantas cyber attack: Millions affected as names, contact details stolen

Qantas cyber attack: Millions affected as names, contact details stolen

02 Jul 03:50 AM

Customers should be on the lookout for scammers and imposters.

Spain court suspends huge Ryanair 'abusive practices' fine

Spain court suspends huge Ryanair 'abusive practices' fine

27 Jun 05:33 AM
Tinder for airlines: 'Matchmaker’ service created for sustainable aviation fuel

Tinder for airlines: 'Matchmaker’ service created for sustainable aviation fuel

27 Jun 05:12 AM
Alaska Airlines 737 blowout: Probe points blame at Boeing, federal officials

Alaska Airlines 737 blowout: Probe points blame at Boeing, federal officials

25 Jun 06:32 AM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP