Flight attendants are calling attention to a very real problem involving “disabled” passengers who fake injury in order to get special priority when boarding. Miraculously, these same passengers have no problem with mobility once they reach their destination.
There are people who have very real disabilities who need mobility assistance. This can be especially important in an airport, where you have to cover a large distance in a relatively short period of time. Thankfully, there are laws in place that protect these travelers, like the Air Carrier Access Act.
Unfortunately, this also opens up the floor for people to take advantage of this system. Anyone can walk into an airport and say they need a wheelchair to help them get around, and it seems like more and more people are doing so when they don’t actually need one.
According to the Department of Transportation (DOT) website, “If you self-identify as a passenger with a disability who needs additional time or assistance to board the airplane, the airline must allow you to board the airplane before other passengers.” This means passengers in wheelchairs move to the front of the line.
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This makes sense from a logistical standpoint. As travel pro Ben Schlappig pointed out, “The logistics of getting people with limited mobility down the aisle in a full cabin is more complicated.” Of course, the same logic applies to deplaning, so those in wheelchairs are left to exit the plane last.
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Naturally, travelers have caught onto the idea that wheelchair users are the first to board a plane, and they want to game the system. The DOT said that airline carriers are allowed to ask for “verbal assurance” that a passenger really needs a wheelchair, but they are not allowed to ask them directly about their disability. And, of course, being accused of discrimination is a major legal problem.
So, passengers have begun requesting wheelchairs at the airport, which allows them to board before everybody else. According to the Washington Times, this is a particularly big problem for Southwest, which has first-come, first-served seating instead of assigned seating. But, these passengers don’t want to also be stuck exiting the plane last, so they just get up and walk off the flight without any difficulty.
Jay Ratliff, former aviation general manager at Northwest/Republican Airlines, told the story of one Southwest flight that had 25 passengers board the plane with wheelchairs and only five deplaned with them.
MJ, a radio DJ who hosts the MJ Morning Show on Q105 Tampa Bay, shared his own experience with a “miracle flight” in the Tampa airport.
“I think this is gonna be a miracle flight,” he said in an Instagram reel. “I haven’t seen this many wheelchairs lined up in a very, very long time.”
There were easily over a dozen passengers waiting to board the plane in wheelchairs, but according to MJ, only two needed them to get off.
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The Washington Times shared several X posts from flyers who complained about people who clearly did not need wheelchair assistance using it to board flights first. Ratliff added that the only way for airlines to finally address the problem was likely for “loyal customers [to] talk.” Reno Intreglia, a flight attendant, even shared a fake Bible verse in a Facebook post addressing the miracle flights: “‘Jet bridge Jesus heals all.’ -Aviations 12:10.”
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Obviously, this is a huge annoyance for flyers who actually follow the rules and don’t ask for assistance they don’t need. But there’s a bigger problem here. The DOT reported that around 5.5 million Americans use wheelchairs. How must it make them feel to see people blatantly abusing the rules that are supposed to make traveling fair for them? It’s the worst kind of ableism.
Wheelchairs may seem like a convenience for some, but they are a lifeline to others. There are people who rely on wheelchairs, and laws like the Air Carrier Access Act. People pretending to need those wheelchairs just so they can board a little earlier seems like a slap in the face.
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Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
