Month: April 2026

Categories
Transportation

Mobility Scooter Refused Boarding

scooter at airport

After flying across America and the Pacific with my mobility scooter without incident in February 2026, I was shocked two weeks later when Qantas refused to board the scooter on my flight from Christchurch, New Zealand (NZ) to Sydney, Australia! In effect they were also refusing to board me because traveling without the scooter was not an option.

The refusal was preceded by a series of irrelevant questions about the scooter battery. The question that made no sense was how many hours are left on the battery? When I said I had no idea and asked why this was pertinent, the junior staff agent appeared with a screwdriver with the intention of opening the battery to find out.

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Clearly she had no idea what she was doing so I blocked this maneuver. She was unimpressed with my answering a question she didn’t know to ask: is the battery dry cell or lithium? And my reference to traveling with this gel (dry) cell battery and scooter numerous times on many different airlines in the United States, Australia and N.Z. were unpersuasive.

My appeal to senior staff did not improve the situation. Although I arranged for a Pride mobility scooter company representative to call the Qantas check-in agents to provide battery details and confirm the scooters flight safety, boarding was still denied. But instead of citing a battery problem, the airline changed its’ story. Now staff said there was no room on the plane because there was only one tie down available and this was in use by another scooter! So why all the song and dance about the scooter battery if there was no room on the plane?

I was offered alternative flights that involved a stopover and the addition of several hours to the trip, a 3:00 AM check in for an early flight the next day, or switching to another airline with a late evening arrival. None of these options were acceptable given my need for sleep, a shorter trip, and reducing the risk of luggage and the scooter missing a connecting flight. Besides, the offer of the alternative flight was withdrawn upon learning that it was fully booked.

After spending at least 1 ½ hours at the check-in counter, removing the scooter seat to allow access to the battery, and requesting a chair to sit on while waiting for a decision, I had no choice but to accept a flight at the same time the next day. Thankfully, my friends were willing for me to return home with them for another night and there was time to notify family organized to meet me at the Sydney airport that I was arriving a day late.

This whole debacle was a case of history repeating itself. Ten years earlier, I flew with Qantas from Sydney to Auckland to Sydney. However, that time was more complicated as our travel party included eight family members and two mobility scooters. When attempting to gate check the scooters, we were redirected to a waiting area where more knowledgeable staff would meet us and handle the scooters. However, when staff eventually showed up, we repeatedly answered questions about the scooters weight, batteries, and advised how baggage handlers typically manage the scooters. We even explained that Qantas had no problem transporting the scooters on our trip from Dallas, Texas to Sydney a couple of weeks earlier.

Another hour passed before staff advised that the plane was too small to handle two scooters and that one scooter would have to come on a later flight. This made no sense because we were traveling on the same size plane as our flight from Auckland to Sydney when both scooters were transported on the same plane as ourselves. After rejecting the option of having one scooter travel separately, we also declined the offer to travel on the same plane as the scooters on another airline later in the afternoon. We had no desire to be separated from our family members and retorted, ”If we wanted to fly with [named airline] we would have booked with that airline.” We also expressed amazement that Qantas was communicating their inability to handle the scooters!

The outcome was the only deviation from repeating history. A decade earlier, all scooter travel barriers were suddenly lifted when an Operations Manager got involved. The size of the plane, the weight of the scooters, or the safety of the batteries were no longer cited as an issue. In my post flight complaint, I wrote, “In an age when we have many airline choices, what can you say to persuade me that Qantas is still a viable airline choice for a person traveling with scooters?”

Despite Qantas commitment to providing the best customer service in the airline industry, the Qantas Customer Care division limited it’s reply to a staff training issue. But here we are ten years later and Qantas is still asserting it can only transport one mobility scooter on a smaller plane like the Boeing 737-800 with seating capacity of 174 passengers. So unless Qantas makes some changes, it appears that I do need to choose another airline. For one thing, the airline needs to understand that people who use a mobility scooter cannot be separated from their device and don’t want to be parted from a traveling companion who also uses a mobility scooter.

My closing advice is to follow airline instructions, such as that provided by Qantas:

Finally, be sure to let the airline know in advance the specifications of your mobility aid so that you don’t get booked on a plane that cannot accommodate your device. Rest assured, I will observe these guidelines on future flights.

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