Airport with 90 year old grandma - tips needed
 

I am flying in June with my 90 year old grandma (Good hearted stubborn Swede who has not flown in 20 years) to see her sister in law who is turing 90...

Flight from Newark to Los Angeles. Any tips on making pre-arrangements so we have a smooth experience will be truly appreciated.

Many thanks,
Amanda

just call your airline and let them know, they will show up with a wheel chair to bring you door to door.

Thank you.

Doesn't matter if she's in a wheelchair or not, she is qualified for a pre-boarding. This will give you additional time to settle.

Also, if there are any dietary restrictions, the airline should be notified in advance.

Sometimes the belt light wouldn't go off, so nobody is allowed to go to the lavatory.

Check the TSA website for things allowed/not allowed as carry-ons.

Is she ambulatory? Does she use a walker? Wheelchair? Can she get from the jetway to her seat on her own or will she need one of those skinny wheelchairs that will fit down the aisle? This information should be communicated to the airline beforehand and again at check-in.

Will she be able to use the toilet on the plane? If not, be sure it's the last thing you do before boarding, and maybe she should wear something extra.

Does she take any medications? (Be sure they are in your carry on bag, not your checked luggage.)

Is she nervous about flying?

Pack your patience -- everything takes longer. Blessings upon you for doing this.

Address ground transportation issues as well. How are you getting to airport? If in cab, that should be fine. But if you are driving self to and parking at airport, that may be more difficult - distance from most airport parking to terminal is great and wheelchair or transport often not available. Dropping her alone at curb may not work well.

Upon arrival at destination, same questions need to be answered.

What about waiting for luggage. Will someone be meeting you who can assist her while you retrieve luggage.

Bathroom issue need to be considered. If she can not walk, how will she use the bathroom on the plane - a 6 hour flight is a long time for an elderly (or young) person not to pee. In terminal, if she needs to be accompanied to bathroom that will mean you will have to haul all luggage, etc. with you so you can go in with her.

Gail brings up a good point. If she is not already using Depends or similar, perhaps you could coax her to use them for the long flight. I found that gentle suggestions have been helpful..."just for backup in case we can't find (get to) a rest room".

My grandma who is about to turn 85 has discovered that she loves airplane travel.

She uses a cane, so she can move around the cabin of the airplane to use the bathroom just fine. The walk to the plane is too long for her though, so the airlines provide skycaps with wheel chairs. She absolutely loves this because she gets special treatment.

We always have people to meet her on both ends, and it works just fine.

Watch a few epesodes of Airline on A&E on Monday nights. They deal with this sort of stuff a lot. And it's real life people in airports.

Get dropped off at the curb, check your bags and request a wheelchair before you even go indoors.
And tip the wheelchair pusher, who probably is not an airline employee. Minimum $5, more if it takes longer than 10-15 minutes to get you to the gate area, where airline employees will take over.
(At least this is the practice at most airports; yours may be different, but let the wheelchair pusher decline the tip if his employment doesn't allow him to accept it.)

Just did this with my mom. Definately request a wheelchair a week or so before the trip or when making reservations. Ask again when you check in. The skycap will help get you through security faster too. If your grandmother has a pacemaker, they won't put her through the metal detector and will have to pat her down. This is what happened to my mom and it was time consuming. The TSA staff was very respectful. Our journey included several legs. Sometimes the airline staff expected me to push the wheelchair which was really a pain as I also had my young daughter and carryons. Usually though the skycap took care of everything including getting luggage off the belts. We tipped accordingly.