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I mean you can, but is it ethical?

mrsconn23mrsconn23 member
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in Wedding Woes

Dear Prudence,

A friend who vacations often discovered free wheelchair rides throughout the airport, making her first in line from ticket counters, security/TSA, to departure/arrival gates, to baggage claim, and first boarding with first access to onboard storage. Recently, her partner, who was running behind with the luggage, realized he too could get a chair and that the attendant must also haul the luggage. Put some meds in checked luggage, mark it “medical supplies,” and it’s free. All this if they have “difficulty walking long distances,” which, they claim, is nearly everybody, certainly us geezers, given the size of expanded huge airports. At first, I thought they were taking unfair advantage or being unethical, but the more I think about it, the less I care. I travel rarely. Navigating the airport logistics with knowledgeable assistance sounds reassuring. I can claim “difficulty walking long distances” as well as anybody.

—Should I Do It?

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Re: I mean you can, but is it ethical?

  • charlotte989875charlotte989875 member
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    I mean no one is going to make you do an endurance test to see if you can walk to your gate. But these employees aren’t concierge service to your gate- they are there to assist passengers who need it. If you fit that description then feel free to use the service provided. But if you don’t actually need these services- remember they you are taking them away from others, or making people who actually need them. Decide if you can live with that. 
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  • banana468banana468 member
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    Just remember that as you are in a large group of people your age, be prepared that if you continue to travel this "service" may not always be an option because one day you'll actually need it and you'll be sitting and waiting for the more able bodied senior to get dropped off. 


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  • VarunaTTVarunaTT member
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    LW, they are taking unfair advantange and unethical, and you're okay with that.  Don't ask people to validate what they're doing or what you're considering.  Just do it and take the judgment or STFU already.
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  • MyNameIsNotMyNameIsNot member
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    This is disgusting and no you shouldn't do it. 
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  • short+sassyshort+sassy member
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    levioosa said:
    Hey fuck you  LW and fuck your friends. And I say that as someone with a valid health issue who has been told in the past “you don’t need a disability placard for your car. You’re young and you should walk. Also you don’t want to gain weight now do you?” People with hidden disabilities have it bad enough. And you want to add to it by pretending because you’re lazy? Fuck right off. Shell out the extra money for lounges and TSA precheck and get over yourselves. 
    I learned a good lesson early in my life.  I had a coworker at my job in college who'd been born with a serious heart condition.  She'd had three open heart surgeries before she was 18.  It was dangerous for her to do too much walking or physical exertion.  She had a handicap plate for her car and is one of those people who need the concierge wheelchair assistance.

    She was young (late 20s) and looked perfectly healthy if you didn't know her medical history.  AH people would give her flack all the time for using a handicap spot, despite the plate on her car.

    This is just another form of someone being an AH to people with disabilities.  If the LW and her H CAN walk without putting their health in danger, and it sounds like this is the case, then they should.  And if they have to walk slow due to their age, then get to the airport earlier.

    Do not fuck over people with mobility issues whose lives are already exponentially harder on a daily basis.  Because the wheelchair help the LWs take might mean a delay for a person who actually needs it.
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  • banana468banana468 member
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    short+sassy said:
    levioosa said:
    Hey fuck you  LW and fuck your friends. And I say that as someone with a valid health issue who has been told in the past “you don’t need a disability placard for your car. You’re young and you should walk. Also you don’t want to gain weight now do you?” People with hidden disabilities have it bad enough. And you want to add to it by pretending because you’re lazy? Fuck right off. Shell out the extra money for lounges and TSA precheck and get over yourselves. 
    I learned a good lesson early in my life.  I had a coworker at my job in college who'd been born with a serious heart condition.  She'd had three open heart surgeries before she was 18.  It was dangerous for her to do too much walking or physical exertion.  She had a handicap plate for her car and is one of those people who need the concierge wheelchair assistance.

    She was young (late 20s) and looked perfectly healthy if you didn't know her medical history.  AH people would give her flack all the time for using a handicap spot, despite the plate on her car.

    This is just another form of someone being an AH to people with disabilities.  If the LW and her H CAN walk without putting their health in danger, and it sounds like this is the case, then they should.  And if they have to walk slow due to their age, then get to the airport earlier.

    Do not fuck over people with mobility issues whose lives are already exponentially harder on a daily basis.  Because the wheelchair help the LWs take might mean a delay for a person who actually needs it.
    That's what my point was earlier: You can try to milk this system but one day you may find yourself actually needing it and you're going to be pissed off at all the other people who exploited it to find yourself SOL.

    Not a disability but what we said for people who abused Bed Bath and Beyond's generous return policy 15 years ago who intended to only return their gifts for cash.  It was eventually going to screw over the rest of us and now they're going out of business. 
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  • MyNameIsNotMyNameIsNot member
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    I made the mistake of looking for Prudie's response to this one. Holy hell, one of the worst Prudie takes I've ever read. 

    Should you do it? Probably not right now. Mostly because you are so stressed out about your friend and her partner and their ethical status, imagine how you’d feel if you were the one being rolled through security? Some of your hesitation makes sense: I’m sure you wouldn’t want to take even a small risk of tying up the last available attendant at any given moment, thereby leaving someone else who was truly unable to walk on their own with a longer wait time for assistance. You’re a good person for thinking about the potential impact on others.

    But this service is there for people who need help, and if you become one of them, you should be open to using it in the future. What that will require is changing the way you think about disability and the meaning of getting an accommodation. It’s not shameful! Only you know how your body feels, but if you can “claim” difficulty walking long distances, does that mean you have difficulty? Even a little? If you do, it’s okay. It’s also okay if, as you suggest in your letter, navigating the airport on your own has begun to feel trickier and you’d like a little help. I once read an article that pointed out that disability isn’t something you either live with or don’t. A better way of thinking about it is, “everyone will become disabled if they’re lucky.” The piece quoted Maria Town, the President and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities, who said “For me, disability is not necessarily a sign of weakness or a sign of a lack of competence. It is instead a sign of survival and resilience and strength.” Let that marinate for a minute! If you end up being a “geezer” who is well enough to take a trip somewhere, and getting a ride through the airport in a wheelchair would make it a little easier on you, physically or mentally, go for it. And thank your friends for the idea.

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