Passenger stranded after American Airlines forget wheelchair

Xavi Santiago was left in Orlando airport waiting for her wheelchair until 1am, after a mishandling issue. Photo / Tiktok; xxavisantiago

A traveller says they were stranded at a Florida airport after an airline forgot to load their wheelchair.

Xavi Santiago said she and a group of friends waited for almost five hours at Orlando Airport trying to find out what had happened to a power wheelchair, which was supposed to have been checked on the American Airlines plane.

Santiago was flying from Los Angeles to Orlando for a holiday at Disneyworld, with a stopover in Miami. They were eventually told by the carrier that the wheelchair had not been loaded onto the final leg and were waiting to have it loaded on the next available flight.

"They have given me the runaround," said Santiago on a TikTok video.

The group who were travelling together for a holiday at Disney had originally booked direct flights with American Airlines to avoid this exact situation, she said. However, a week before departure, the airline changed their route to include a layover in Miami.

"They put me in a manual wheelchair at the airport and proceeded to have a conversation with my wife, not me, about what was happening with my chair."

The airline assured them that the chair was on the next flight arriving at 9pm. When this did not happen, they were left waiting until it eventually arrived on the final flight at 1am.

Santiago says that she was not offered a temporary wheelchair and had to wait at the airport for the issue to be resolved.

"This is not a lost bag. This is my mobility. These are like my legs," she said in an interview with Insider.

"When I booked my flight, I booked a one-way potentially because I am very aware of airlines and how they treat disabled people," Santiago said. "I know disabled people who have had their mobility aids broken, damaged, or lost by airlines."

American Airlines was contacted for comment.

Airlines called out for repeated failings

This year, the US Department of Transportation revealed a 108 per cent increase in complaints from passengers travelling with wheelchairs or other disabilities. There were 158 complaints in May.

In July one passenger's expensive electric wheelchair was destroyed in transit with American Airlines, three weeks later his replacement wheelchair was severely damaged by the same carrier, costing him $116000.

Thousands of wheelchairs are damaged or misplaced by airlines in the US every year according to Disability advocates.

Amendments to civil aviation laws have been proposed to require airlines report incidents of broken wheelchairs and mobility scooters in transit.

Senator Tammy Duckworth, who has experienced issues trying to fly with her wheelchair, has begun advocating for changes to the rights of passengers travelling with disabilities.

"Wheelchairs should be treated like a human limb because they're my legs," said Duckworth. "When you break my wheelchair, or you lose my wheelchair, you've taken away my legs."

Xavier Santiago said she was extremely grateful for the support she had on her Tiktok video.

"Thank you all for commenting and tagging American Airlines. I finally got my chair at almost 1 in the morning after being stranded for 5 hours," she wrote.

The video was seen a quarter of a million times and gained almost 1000 comments from other wheelchair users and travellers with similar experiences.

"This is why I'm so afraid to fly," read one comment. "Airlines, do better."