Arriving at L.A., we waited until the plane was empty, before attempting to get out. That gave them time to have the wheelchair at the door. I went out and set up the leg rest, and then came back for Mom. As soon as she stood up, I gave the seat cushion to someone and told them which way to put it on the wheelchair. Again, I backed out of the plane, ahead of Mom. This time, the attendant put the wheelchair halfway in the plane....front wheels inside the plane. That made it so Mom didn't have to maneuver the slight changes between the breezeway and the plane. VERY nice!!
At baggage claim, we couldn't find the commode box...only our two suitcases. Finally, we asked someone and realized it was in another area where they had "oversized" packages. This was true on the return trip, also. It had been put in a totally different area from where the suitcases came off.
I got a cart, and loaded up the belongings. Picture this...one hand on the luggage cart (with that commode box slipping off all the time) and one on the wheelchair. Mom and I worked out a system where I helped push, but when we got to corners, I just said, "HELP!" and she'd put her foot down and help do the turns.
Again, a third person would have been a huge help. And if we'd known where we were going, we would have tipped someone to help, this time, but we weren't sure of the plan. We hadn't thought this part through, yet.
