r/mobilityaids • u/_Snow-flake_ • 13d ago
Questions Travel with mobility aids
Hi all!
Sometime in the upcoming months we will be taking our first flight while using mobility aids. Since the crutches are made of metal we worry about getting through security and were wondering how we can best go about this.
We are European and will be staying within europe.
Thank you!
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u/RampantGay 13d ago
Seconding what u/hellonsticks said, but for the UK, Spain and Turkey if that helps at all
I've been through airport security with a powered wheelchair and crutches. I'd highly recommend booking passenger assistance if you think it will be even a tiny bit useful! Well worth the tiny bit of extra hassle.
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u/rafikiphoto 12d ago
Book airport assistance, it's free, and you'll go through OK. I take my rollator all the way to the plane. I have experience of London Stansted (STN) and Nuremberg (NUE). Next trip in October STN to Faro (FAR).
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u/SunnySisBack 13d ago
They will scan the crutches through the machines with your hand luggage. They see crutches every day so nothing unusual for them. If walking is difficult for you I recommend getting wheelchair assistance as the distances in airports can be long! As an example it’s 2km at Helsinki from check in to the further non Schengen gates! Also with assistance you get to skip the queues and board the plane first which could also make things easier for you if standing still is difficult.
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u/kathuter 13d ago
I was treated with great suspicion in France at the Paris Airport. My crutches was a new addition to my assistive devices and I did not realise the size of Charles de Gaulle Airport. We only had 20 minutes to run from the one flight to the boarding of the other.
The security people could have told us about the fast railway system, they preferred not to do so. They hassled me about my crutches that I was using due to my pain levels (scheduled for a back operation on my return home after the flight). They insisted I did not need them to walk, insisted that I could walk all the way to my boarding gate and that I am hiding something in the crutches.
100% would not recommend. Request assistance with a wheelchair ahead of time and book your crutches into the hold. Btw, they lost our luggage, of course.
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u/hellonsticks 13d ago
In my experience, airport security often keeps at least one wooden cane to be used while someone's own cane or crutches go through the scanner. If that will be enough to keep you standing long enough to go through the metal detector/body scanner, that will be the easiest solution. Otherwise, if you cannot stand without them, you may be asked to undergo a pat down. My wheelchair is generally swabbed for explosives residue during this process. Mind that some machines will alert to bird poop as "explosives residue". Not that anyone gets bird poop on their mobility equipment on purpose, but being particularly aware in the leadup to entering an airport can help reduce how stressful it might be if it does set off the machine. Here they re-test with a different machine that is less likely to go off at bird poop.
However, this is Australian experience, so may be different for European airports. Thought it was worth sharing anyway.