Baggage..The hidden cost

[anat0l]

Actually - following oz's comments about the disembarkation in Doha - if the OP told the TA they wanted suitable flights for his 85 year old then I WOULD expect the TA to mention the use of stairs for the transit.

On this basis it may well be possible to advise the TA that the selected flights are not suitable for purpose and seek a refund / transfer to different airline. (of course the actual flying is 'suitable for purpose' - it gets you from A to B - but the ground arrangements etc are also part of the product being sold and those too need to be suitable.

Worth a try. (Unless of course Qatar comes back to say they will provide special elevator assistance at Doha.)

Surely they must have this kind of facility available! Or at least someone to carry said pax up and down stairs?

Otherwise, this says a lot about some other airports, e.g. LHR and MUC just to name two (both have jetway gates, but in some cases, pax are still bussed out to standoff bays and must take stairs up).

 

[Dave Noble]

Surely they must have this kind of facility available! Or at least someone to carry said pax up and down stairs?

They do. How else would they get wheelchair bound passengers into the aeroplane

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Sorry - I wasn't quite clear in my post. Yes Qatar would have wheelchair assistance - I was more thinking that the OP could say that his mother may not want to use a wheelchair and therefore the product is not suitable (fair enough - my mother wouldn't want that either - but she's in no position to walk up and down airline steps and climb on and off transfer buses either).

As such - if he told the TA his mother was 85 - then clearly the transfer arrangements at Doha are not suitable.

My post was thinking outloud that rather than allow the booking to be cancelled Qatar might come back and say that they are able to provide wheelchair assistance (and therefore that the product IS suitable for purpose). But as with myy mother I am sure there are other seniors who would not want to be paraded past fellow pax in a wheelchair when they don't need one.

 

[dk4]

For those who have never seen it happen, this is one way to bypass the stairs -


Mobile Assistance Lift - moving toward aircraft


Mobile Assistance Lift - in action

 

[anat0l]

For those who have never seen it happen, this is one way to bypass the stairs -


Mobile Assistance Lift - moving toward aircraft


Mobile Assistance Lift - in action

I believe that would only be for those who require wheelchair assistance or other serious movement impairment (e.g. I assume someone on crutches might be offered the service).

It's not an alternative for those who do not wish to climb up/down stairs and/or would prefer to "take the lift".

 

[serfty]

I've seen similar at many places, including ADL (before the new terminal opened) when the "Lift" was more a forklift attached to a Perspex cage.

 

[kpc]

Recently, as I was sitting on my FD flight at BKK, I saw 5 ground staff carry an overweight, wheelchair bound passenger (while he was still sitting in the wheelchair) up the stairs to the plane!!:shock::shock: He was so disabled that another strong and muscular passenger had to lift him off his wheelchair into seat 1C (which had just been vacated on "orders" of the flight crew) !

 

[medhead]

I believe that would only be for those who require wheelchair assistance or other serious movement impairment (e.g. I assume someone on crutches might be offered the service).

It's not an alternative for those who do not wish to climb up/down stairs and/or would prefer to "take the lift".

Well I have a mobility issue with walking up stairs but no other obviou things like crutches, which means it takes me about 2 seconds per step on average. I was offered the use of the lift. I prefer not to bother with such things. But I'm sure I could take the position of not wishing to climb the stairs and they would provide a lift.