Never a Dull Moment When We Fly by Derek Garner

I have just returned from my fifth holiday in New Zealand visiting my son and his family.

I have always had problems with the transfer to and from my wheelchair to and from the aircraft seat and have suffered as a result and have always spoken to the companies at length to explain my needs with very limited success. This time I picked Qantas as a result of a website promoting wheelchair friendly travel. I spoke to Qantas staff and explained my situation and also my interest in their new Eagle hoist. At every stop on my journey I was met by staff who had obviously been told about my flight and were expecting me. I was handled with courtesy and respect and was looked after at all times.

Several staff members pointed out to me, unprompted, that they no longer used the hoist as two strong men were more efficient, which proved to be the case. Dubai was my worry after a bad experience there some years ago but they were excellent with one man allocated to my care during the time I was there. At Heathrow a special transporter machine was brought to the plane and I was moved from the plane via this machine from Term 3 to Term 5 by Gary and Omar. Brilliant. In the flight from Sydney to Heathrow on an Airbus 380 my wife and I finished up with two seats on the middle block of four the other two were unoccupied by accident or design, so my wife could lay down and have a sleep.

It was obvious to me that Qantas had told their staff at all points where I was due to be, of my disability. This is really all I have ever asked airline companies to do but Qantas actually have done it and I will use them again and would certainly recommend them.

The BA shuttle from Manchester was 90 minutes late leaving so we missed our Qantas connexion at Heathrow. Fortunately we were eventually offered a Virgin Atlantic flight to Auckland via Shanghai.
When we got to the plane my wife was told that they had found two seats together and we were put into business class. Ten hours in luxury, my how the other half live. We had a very pleasant trip I can assure you.

I have been to New Plymouth in New Zealand five times and the last leg from Auckland is in a twin prop small plane accessed from the runway.  They transfer me from my chair onto the aisle chair on the runway then push me into a cage attached to a fork lift truck. They then raise the cage to the entrance of the plane and push me in. Sounds odd but it does work very well. Reverse the procedure at New Plymouth. Apart from losing both our suitcases, the flight there and back were as good as it gets if you are in a wheelchair. I can’t praise Qantas enough for their attention to detail.
Upgraded to Business class, presented with champagne and a large single malt, hoisted on a fork lift truck, lost cases, missed flights.

Never a dull moment when we fly.