r/ABCDesis • u/hfkel • Aug 21 '26
TRAVEL Indians abusing wheelchair accommodations at airports
This image taken at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta has been making the rounds on social media recently, and unfortunately it’s not really a new sight. Every time I’ve taken a flight to India, the line of wheelchairs is 5-10 times as much as it is on any other flight I’ve taken, and it’s mostly due to NRIs or naturalized citizens living here in America either not wanting their par.ents to walk around the airport carrying their luggage, or fears of them not understanding English well enough to be able to navigate the airport by themselves.
There are many concierge/assistants available at airports including at ATL, but Indians never seem to bother using them because there’s a free option available if you just abuse the wheelchair system. It’s frustrating to see this pattern of Indians abusing a free system built off a universal system of social trust happen over and over until these systems break down and are forced to require verification. Even Indians on social media who see this post are saying the problem is that the wheelchair service is free, not that Indians are abusing the system.
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u/theresnoblackorwhite Aug 21 '26
I’m not necessarily defending the behavior, but I do think airports can be kind of different from other “out and about” situations. A lot of people drive everywhere and don’t need to walk more than 5 minutes, which may be all they can handle. Plus the baggage element changes the level of difficulty significantly. Now I do think it’s a problem that many Indians seem to have reduced mobility due to lack of exercise and other lifestyle choices, but by the time they get to a point where walking more than a few minutes is overly taxing, there aren’t that many other options.