FLL airport travelling with limited mobility grandmother

[tschwa2]

Next month I am flying Southwest down to Fort Lauderdale. I will be travelling with 97 YO who uses a walker for short walking and wheelchair for distances of more than a couple hundred feet. So a wheelchair, two walkers (outdoor with seat and small indoor), bedside commode (medium size box) and 3 suitcases. I can travel light but she can not. I would need to navigate from luggage pick up to car rental. I imagine there is a shuttle to get to the cars. I can not leave her alone with or without the luggage. It will be a challenge getting her up the stairs to get on the shuttle especially after the flight (which is luckily non stop at about 2.5 hours).

We are traveling on a day before the price hikes for Easter so I could pay the $140 to have my husband or niece take the round trip to help and then fly back. Any other suggestions.

 

[DeniseM]

Can you rent the equipment you need at your destination, and use the airport's wheelchairs at the airports?

 

[vacationhopeful]

The elderly traveler is well known at FLL.

See if you can reserve/request a wheel chair and a skycap at the FLL gate. It is much shorter walk than my usual trek thru the PHL airport (don't know your airport) thru the airport to baggage claim. Baggage claim is on a lower level (elevators by the stairs down ... on the right when facing down the steps .. I believe).

It is truly amazing during the winter snowbird season ... I have seen as many as 27 wheelchair SWA passengers in PHL for the outbound flight and ONLY 1 needing a wheelchair upon arrival at the gate in FLL.

 

[tschwa2]

We are driving back so we would need the equipment then. I am considering amazon prime and verifying at the resort they can hold if we schedule delivery for a day before arrival. I know some charge a fee and that would probably be alright as well. Moneywise buying or renting would cost about $250 and I still would have multiple bags but less additional equipment and still would have difficulties getting to the car rental.

I usually don't travel with her by myself and we usually drive if its just us so I just don't know the answer to this question. Is there someone at the airport who can take her down to luggage area and stay with her while I get the bags and push her to where we pick up the car shuttle? At some point between getting off the plane and getting on to the shuttle- preferably before we have the checked bags, I would need to take her in to use the restroom and that takes about 15 minutes. I know that once we get to the shuttle the shuttle driver can help with the bags while I get her up the steps.

 

[littlestar]

We bought a transport chair at Walgreens for my mom for $100 on sale. It has a titanium frame and folds up like a baby stroller. We check it like a stroller and it goes under the belly of the plane. We use it instead of a wheelchair. It looks like a wheelchair. It fits in the trunk of the car, too.

 

[tschwa2]

That's what we have and its about 4 years old. She used to rarely use it only on long distances we use it semi regularly at this point. One of the breaks is kind of going so I wouldn't mind buying a new one. It will just be hard pushing that and dealing with the luggage.

 

[Passepartout]

Great topical info. We are flying into FLL next week for a cruise. DW also uses a (wheeled) walker. She can hobble short distances with a cane. We ordered wheelchair service from SW, a handicap room at a hotel & cruise, rented a scooter for the cruise (delivered to the cabin) The only 'T' that isn't crossed is getting her into a hotel shuttle. Maybe taxi is a better plan. I think we are as well set up as possible- having taken several other cruises from FLL, we know the layout.

 

[littlestar]

We had two old sturdy leather belts that we cut to size to buckle around the bottom parts of the transport chair to keep it held together securely when checking it with the airline. Works like a charm.

I would definitely get a porter to help with everything. We travel with me, my husband, and my mother and father so three of us to help with everything and we hang purses and tote bags on the arms of the transport chair that mom is sitting in (a little hard to push but good exercise!)

 

[custcarcen]

Next month I am flying Southwest down to Fort Lauderdale. I will be travelling with 97 YO who uses a walker for short walking and wheelchair for distances of more than a couple hundred feet. So a wheelchair, two walkers (outdoor with seat and small indoor), bedside commode (medium size box) and 3 suitcases. I can travel light but she can not. I would need to navigate from luggage pick up to car rental. I imagine there is a shuttle to get to the cars. I can not leave her alone with or without the luggage. It will be a challenge getting her up the stairs to get on the shuttle especially after the flight (which is luckily non stop at about 2.5 hours).

We are traveling on a day before the price hikes for Easter so I could pay the $140 to have my husband or niece take the round trip to help and then fly back. Any other suggestions.

I really don't think you have much to worry about. Arrange with Southwest for a wheelchair at the gate and then they'll take you to baggage claim. Once there you'll find plenty of guys with carts to help you with the luggage to get over to the car rental building which is actually connected, with a slightly uphill ramp, to the Southwest arrival terminal. I would verify with Southwest that all arrivals are at that terminal just to be safe.

The only problem would be if there is a very long line to rent the car. Hopefully it will be quick and you can get the wheelchair person or luggage cart staffer to watch over her. I'm sure a price can be arranged.

I usually rent thru Alamo because you can get the car by checking in with a credit card at a machine which no one else uses. We did have a very bad experience last month at Budget because their prices were so low that everybody was using them and no other company had any lines. I won't rent from them again until I join their frequent renter club which merits a separate check-in line that had no one in it.

The key will be to verify with SWA that your flight will land at that terminal. If you have any other questions just pm me.

Good luck.
Mike

 

[tschwa2]

Thanks for the advice. I am using Enterprise but will see if I can pre check in.

 

[custcarcen]

Thanks for the advice. I am using Enterprise but will see if I can pre check in.

I'm not too sure that Enterprise shares that space with the other companies. Don't recall seeing them. You might want to make sure that they are not off site which renders most of what I said moot.