As soon as we got to the gate, I went right to the attendant and explained that we had a wheelchair situation. She wanted to know if Mom could walk to her seat, or if she would need an "aisle chair". The airports have VERY narrow chairs, called aisle chairs...no arms on them. They are made to fit down the narrow aisles and made so people can lift the person and the chair up/down stairs. They strap you in, but it's NOT the most comfortable situation. If you can't walk, though, it's a great deal. You are taken straight to your seat, they help you transfer, and then at the other end they'll meet you with another aisle chair. Be sure to ask for one ahead of time and remind everyone, along the way, that you'll be needing this help.
In our case, I just told her that we'd called ahead and reserved the front row, aisle seat of the economy section. I said that if Mom could wheel her chair to the door of the plane, I was pretty sure she could just walk to the seat, but we needed time to do it, without people rushing us. They decided to board the whole plane, first, and at the last minute, we followed my plan to get Mom on.
One of the attendants insisted on wheeling her down the breezeway to the door of the plane. She claimed it was company policy, so THEY were liable if something happened. I'm not sure that was right, but we went along with it. At the door, everyone asked, "How can we help?" Looking back, I'm thinking that I should have taken 30 seconds to say what we were dealing with. People just can't tell by looking. But I think it would have been good to say, "Mom is totally here, mentally...but her left arm is paralyzed, and this will be a little narrow and tricky to get to her seat. Just stand by." It would have saved moments like when people reached out to her left side and said, "Here, take my arm." Or when, on the return trip, when she was seated BEFORE everyone boarded, and was in the aisle seat, where everyone bumped her, one lady said, "Why do you keep holding your arm, is it broken or something?" I said, "No, just paralyzed!" She got red in the face and shut up FAST! :)
Anyhow...I told the "helpers" that once Mom stood up, I'd hand the stewardess who was IN the plane, the seat from the wheelchair and she was to put in on Mom's plane seat. Then I handed someone the leg rest and said to put that in the overhead. (By the way, some airlines will store the wheelchair in a closet on the plane. It's up to them, whether they send it down below or keep it in the cabin.) Then, I backed into the plane and had Mom follow me, step by step. In two seconds, they'd folded up the wheelchair and taken it away. We made it to her seat, through about three rows of First Class, with no problems. About two minutes after sitting down, the plane started backing away....so there was NO time to spare.
I have to tell you, at this point, the look on Mom's face was worth the past six months of work. What an accomplishment, to be sitting on a plane and heading to see her daughter, FINALLY!!!! She was so pleased. And when that plane took off and we were blazing toward California....I said to her, "This is so much better than an electric wheelchair"!!! You're REALLLY going fast, now!" :) It was wonderful.
By the way, she sat on that extra cushion from the wheelchair, all the way, and loved it. Luckily there was no one else in our row, so I was able to spread out and we had a great trip.
