'It's humiliating,' Advocate for disabled furious after wheelchair destroyed on JetBlue flight
BOSTON - Colleen Flanagan, an engagement and outreach specialist in Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's Commission for Persons with Disabilities was ready. On April 17th, she flew down to Washington, D.C. on JetBlue to meet with Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. She was there to advocate for better home and community-based services for the disabled.
The trip turned into something different altogether.
"Traveling with a disability is never easy, especially if you have to bring a wheelchair" she said, foreshadowing the events that were about to unfold.
After landing at Reagan National Airport, the Jamaica Plain resident was wheeled in an "aisle chair," a chair used to transport people with disabilities onto and from airplanes to the jetway. Flanagan recorded the moment her power wheelchair was presented to her.
She can be heard on the video, sobbing "I just can't believe this happened."
"The joystick was completely smashed, the side was all the way dented in," she explained later to WBZ-TV. Somehow the chair was so damaged in transit that it wouldn't even turn on. Even worse, she had to wait in the terminal for three hours just to get a loaner.
"It's humiliating, it's frustrating, it doesn't seem fair," she said.
Flanagan says JetBlue's response has been hurtful as well. The airline apologized for the damage but hasn't said when the wheelchair will be returned or if it will even pay for all of the damage.
"After it's assessed, they will let the wheelchair vendor know what they will pay," she explained. "I'm not even to the repair stage."
Sadly, Colleen isn't alone. Every day, an average of 29 wheelchairs are damaged on flights. In 2019, more than 10,000 were broken. She wants visibility, accountability and, above all else - her own chair back.
"They gave me travel vouchers, which I also found insulting because I'm not very eager to travel with them in the future," she said.
WBZ reached out to JetBlue, asking specifically when Flanagan can get her chair back, if the company will pay 100% of the cost of repair and return, and what its protocol is on securing mobility devices. The airline has yet to respond.
