Myranda Shields and Justin Walker’s trip to Richmond, Virginia, for the National Wheelchair Basketball Association national championships was no slam dunk.
Walker, who plays for the Phoenix Suns D2 wheelchair team, said that when he and his teammates arrived in Virginia, they found what his girlfriend (Shields) and a fellow wheelchair basketball player described as a 300-piece puzzle. The baggage handlers had separated the wheels from dozens of wheelchair frames as they loaded them onto the plane.
“When we got there, it seemed like they weren’t prepared for us at all. There was no communication from Denver, like ‘we just wrapped up the worst mess of a freight situation in the world for you,'” Shields told USA TODAY. “All wheels are off our chairs and they have no additional staff to help us.”
Video on social media shows the scene where Shields and Walker arrived in Richmond.
The Suns flew on Southwest Airlines from Phoenix to Richmond via Denver on April 10, and Shields said a few other teams participated in the tournament during their flight. She said tournament organizers had been in contact with Richmond airport operators and Southwest months before the event to make sure everyone was prepared, but the system still fell apart for the players during their trip.
“We understand what we are asking for, what we need to take with us is more than a normal passenger. That’s why we’re going to continue and communicate,” Walker told USA TODAY. “The lack of knowledge is unreal. It’s just sickening.”
Shields said the scene upon arrival in Richmond was so chaotic that the gate agent eventually called police because so many players and other travelers were going back and forth in the jetway to retrieve pieces of their wheelchairs that were separated. Some travelers in the group were not wheelchair users, and some of those who brought wheelchairs are somewhat mobile without their device, so they were able to work on putting things back together.
The situation in the baggage claim area did not improve.
“When we got to baggage claim, the people down there weren’t nearly enough staff for this situation,” Shields said. Airport staff told passengers that bags had been left off the plane due to the unusually large number of wheelchairs, causing frustration among everyone in the arrivals hall.
“It was crazy how passengers were shouting at us. It was just terrible. They just blamed everything on the wheelchairs,” Shields said.
Southwest’s airport manager in Richmond sent an email to team captains and event organizers acknowledging the incident.
“I wanted to apologize to the teams who experienced lengthy delays and negative experiences when arriving here in RIC over the past two days. Communication has been going on for over a month with all cities involved in your travel plans and our objective has been to make your travel experience as smooth as possible. We failed some of you,” said the email, which USA TODAY reviewed.
In a separate statement to USA TODAY, Southwest Airlines said it will work to do better.
“We have investigated the situation and discussed it with the appropriate parties. We value our customers and have incorporated their feedback to strive for a better experience the next time they fly Southwest,” the statement said. “We apologize any time we fail to meet customer expectations and we have a long history of caring for our customers.”
Cruise height: Data doesn’t show how ‘catastrophic’ airline wheelchair damage can be
For Shields and Walker, the statements don’t go far enough, as they say they encountered similar issues on the trip home when they connected at Chicago Midway.
“To me, that’s the lack of listening by Southwest employees and the ground crew,” Walker said. “If we have to listen to them about how many exits there are on the plane, if we have to listen to them about what we should and shouldn’t do, then they should have the decency to listen to us.”
Both Shields and Walker said they want Southwest to improve communication with disabled travelers and provide more in-depth training for baggage handlers who handle mobility aids.
US airlines damage thousands of mobility devices every year
According to the Department of Transportation, Shields and Walker’s experience is hardly an outlier. In 2023, U.S. airlines transported 835,327 wheelchairs and other mobility devices last year, and there were 11,527 reports of damage – a rate of 1.38 damaged devices per 100 devices transported.
While that’s a slight improvement over 2022 statistics, advocates say even one incident of damage to mobility equipment is too many, and they want airlines to reduce those numbers to zero if they want to claim to be accessible to all travelers.
Zach Wichter is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in New York. You can reach him at zwicher@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Southwest apologizes after dismantling wheelchair basketball seats
