TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — When flying, some of you may have had a checked piece of luggage not arrive when you did at your destination, but what happens when your mobility device doesn’t arrive? That’s the problem Tucsonan, Sam Shivers, was recently faced with.
"Without my wheelchair, it's like I don't have any legs, I can’t get around,” Shivers said.
That's how Shivers was left feeling after landing in Phoenix on March 26, after his trip to Hawaii, when he says his wheelchair didn't make it back with him.
“At that point, I almost felt like throwing up,” he said. “I was like, ‘oh my god, what am I going to do?' I can't walk, I'm paralyzed from the chest down.”
Shivers says he checked his wheelchair at the American Airlines gate like he usually does. However, when he landed, he found out his wheelchair had not made the flight with him and was instead being flown to the Los Angeles International Airport.
He and his wife say it didn't feel like a mistake, but rather a decision, because they say another wheelchair and stroller, in addition to Shivers’, weren't put on the plane. He says if space was the issue, he would have traded his luggage for the wheelchair.
“It's not like we can just hobble around to somewhere else, I can't walk,” Shivers said. “So wherever I am, that’s where I am.”
Shivers says American Airlines employees at Phoenix Sky Harbor did try to help.
“The baggage management team was fine,” he said. “They were great, but they couldn’t make a wheelchair materialize.”
He says they offered him a hotel room, but he didn’t know how he would get into the hotel room. He and his wife ended up deciding to make the trip back home to Tucson. From the airport’s transport chair, he was able to get into his van and head home, where he had an extra wheelchair.
Shivers says his wheelchair was returned to his home in the Foothills about eight hours after he landed. He says he was also offered points with the airline, but says his hope is for American Airlines to better serve people with disabilities.
“I want my chair to arrive on time, with my flight,” he said. “I want my counterpart, my fellow passenger’s chair to end up, and I want the car seat and baby stroller to show up for the family that has an infant.”
He says he has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation.
According to the Department of Transportation’s website, "your device must be returned to you in a timely manner as close as possible to the door of the aircraft, unless you ask to pick it up in baggage claim. Airlines must check and return your assistive device in the same condition as it was received.”
We reached out to American Airlines for an interview or statement, but haven't heard back at the time of this publication.
Last October, the U.S. Department of Transportation fined American Airlines $50 millionfor its treatment of passengers with disabilities between 2019 and 2023. According to the Department of Transportation, American Airlines “mishandled thousands of wheelchairs by damaging them or delaying their return”, among other violations.
