S4 and in a Wheelchair

Hi, all! Some friends of my grandparents are offering up Delta Buddy Passes for me to go to London this summer. I know that is a notoriously bad time to non-rev, especially with such low priority. But I am in school with no time during the winter to travel. I'm thinking May 18-25, or somewhere around that week to get from ATL to London. Which airports (LHR or LGW) would be the safest bet, and which days of the week would be the safest to non-rev. I know I could possibly do ATL-MAN and take the train to London if things look bad. Can I list myself on both the ATL-LHR flights, the MAN flight, and the LGW flights and then just take the first one to offer the best seats? Or do I have to pick one flight and stick with it until I see that I will not get on it?

The complicated part is that I am in an electric wheelchair (plenty of flying experience as a revenue passenger) and travel with an attendant. So that means two people need to get seats (preferably next to each other) on the same flight. As I said, we are both S4. Further complicating this is the fact that my travel companion will be coming from SAV and meeting me at ATL. Neither of us has non-reved before. We would, of course, like to sit up front. But I am well-aware that that is not likely. How doable is this?

A question regarding wheelchairs: revenue passengers in wheelchairs get bulkhead seating and pre-boarding. Is it correct to assume that that goes out the window when non-reving as a disabled passenger?

Also, would it be wise to open our itinerary to leaving ATL and connecting in DTW, MIA, BOS, MSP, or JFK? Or would getting to those cities be too difficult given the fact that they're pretty packed hub-hub routes (with the exception of MIA and BOS)?

No one has told me the price of these two passes. But I do know that they cost some money. How much would one ATL-LON and one SAV-LON via ATL cost during the timeframe listed above?

Thank you all for the help! I will have many questions, I am sure.

Welcome aboard WT.
First let me say, traveling to Europe in the summer is difficult and has humbled many a nonrev traveler, not to mention left some stuck in an airport for days.
Add to that you’ll be traveling as an S4 in a world of S3’s, you could end up stuck in Boston. - see Spongebue’s current Madrid adventure http://nonrev.net/europe/15393-madrid-here-i-come.html His spring break trip to Madrid ended in Washington D.C.

Are you sure you don’t want to try for someplace easier or go for a test run first? *wink*

That said, as a first time non rev traveler my advice is to put in plenty of research, plan meticulously and be ready to improvise.
Since you’ve done plenty of flying you’re probably well aware of the travel snafus/gremlins that can plague someone traveling with an electric wheelchair.
And since you’ll be traveling only if both you and your attendant can make the flight, being flexible will be doubly important.
Decide now how much leeway you have with your travel dates, if connecting flights are an option, how much of a circuitous route you’re willing to take and if you’re open to changing your destination from London to say……….............Amsterdam, if opportunity knocks.
Trust me, it’s better to make your decisions at the kitchen table than in the middle of the airport, with a voice over the loudspeaker announcing the next flight to Chicago.

Be prepared-
Carry printouts of your backup flights, the Holiday Inn toll-free number and terminal maps of any connecting airports. Remember, a flight can be delayed, you miss a connection, a flight canceled and there you are, stuck in Washington D.C.
You want to be able to take anything the non-rev travel gremlins hand you in stride, and have plans B, C & D ready to go; it will save both your nerves and your time.

As a veteran traveler you know the importance of securing your chair, disconnecting wires and protecting that joystick control, so you know that extra pieces of duct tape never hurt. Also if you haven’t in the past, put your name on your wheelchair and carry on your cushion - you never know, those customs lines can be long and your chair can be waiting for you at baggage claim instead of the gate.
Also since you’re traveling overseas, I would suggest contacting a wheelchair repair person in London; if there’s a problem you’ll have a resource available - just in case

Someone from Delta will be able to tell you about embargoes, (sometimes they have those in the summer) can help with loads and answer your other questions.
But as a general rule you want to travel mid-week and try for that first flight of the day.

Again welcome aboard and welcome to the thrill a minute world of non-reving.

We're both pretty flexible since work and school will not be a problem during the summer. But I was thinking that going mid-May would be better in terms of loads than waiting until June or July when all the families are taking vacations. My chair and I have flown a lot, so I know what to expect in terms of problems with flying with a power chair. I have been to London once before, and I find customs/immigration and the attitudes of the agents at LHR to be very good. I always gate-check my chair, which increases connection time needs. Less than an hour-and-a-half, even for domestic, is closely pushing it for me. It takes the baggage folks at least 30 minutes to get my chair up to the gate for me.

For the sake of battery power, I would love to be on one of the three non-stops from ATL. But if I have to connect in some other Delta city, I wouldn't mind. As I said, we are flexible as far as travel dates are concerned. The only flexibility issue that I see is with hotels. I have three picked out in London that are wheelchair accessible. However, most hotels only have a few accessible rooms and they go fast. I'd like to book pretty far in advance, but I know this is not smart when non-reving. I know that no one really knows if they're going to get seats on a flight until they're finally in their seat, but about how far out can you really tell if loads are favorable for non-reving on a specific flight?

I would ordinarily buy my own ticket; but they're pretty expensive this summer. And I've always wanted to experience the thrills and chills of non-reving. I'm probably a glutton for punishment. Oh well... :)

I'de stick with Heathrow. Just more options in general, at least for your return trip. I find it very interesting the two flights: ATL-LHR dept at 10:20 and 10:50 only 30 min between them. Leaves very little time for a non rev to scramble to an other gate and get listed / activated for the second flight. Usually when I go to London I like to fly out of JFK... more frequency to LHR with 3 flights vs 2 plus one LGW in ATL (no new Business Elite seats in ATL-LGW either). Currently the loads look like JFK- LHR would be your best option, but obviously more of a hassle.

In terms of Pre-boarding and bulkhead seating.. Generally if the gate agents know they will have enough seats to accommodate all non-rev flyers they will assign seats and issue boarding passes prior to boarding. If first class is not available they will attempt to seat you in bulkhead. This would allow you to board early.

Best practice would be to arrive at your gate early and inform the gate agents you are a non revenue passenger and that you use a electric wheelchair for mobility. I have full confidence the Delta employees will help your trip go as smoothly as if you were a revenue passenger.

Any other questions give me a shout

Best of Luck,

Ross

After reading your posts, I'd bet any gate agent would be thrilled to work with a pax as savvy as you are. Jethawk's advice (and Mig's!!) sound spot on.
I'd stick w/JFK, too. But that would be based on loads. I don't usually book buddy pass riders until a few days prior. If loads are wide open I will do so a week before.
Keep in mind, you won't have an agent at JFK gates until 90 mins (if that early!) prior to pushback. You can prob find a redcoat tho.
I lvoed your comment about thrills and chills as a nonrev--hopefully, to rephrase, "you're not going to be in for a bumpy ride"

How is ATL-LHR or LGW looking on May 19th for two buddy pass riders Just using the online seat selector shows a mostly open flight on one of the two LHR flights (I can't remember which one, though). But I know that using the seat selector isn't very accurate, especially over a month away. What does TravelNet say? And what about a return on May 26? I am willing to go via JFK, if necessary. But for the sake of my chair's battery, ATL-LHR is preferable.

Hey Wheeledtraveler,

I just took a look at the loads and for a month out they aren't looking the best. There are seats, but I have a feeling the will start to dwindle as your departure day approaches. It seems that Delta revenue management has decided to only offer two flights to london from ATL this summer or at least for the dates you want instead of the three we discussed prior - One flight to LHR and one to LGW. On the other hand the JFK loads still look promising as there are three departures to LHR. For the return segments the loads look slightly more promising for the direct back to ATL. My advice would be to get to London, enjoy your trip, and then check the loads a couple days before your return to plan your angle of attack. I just returned from Rio this weekend and had to leave a day earlier then scheduled, but sometimes you have to make these types of sacrifices to get back home.

You should talk to the employee who is giving you their buddy passes and have them show you the loads for the flights in person. Unfortunately, it's against Delta company policy for me to share load statistics to the general public.

Hope that was of help,

Ross

Something to add. Get with whomever you are getting the passes from and tell them to put the two of you on one listing, since one wouldn't be going w/o the other. Also, make sure they put in the listing that you need a wheelchair. There is a block for it (SSR or Special Service Request) when they are creating the listing. If the seats are there, they should let you preboard like you are used to.

One other thing to consider, many times on international flights you will not be able to go through customs until you have a seat- not just a seat request. Some places will not even let you through security until you have a seat assigned. This could create a time crunch you you.

I have no 1st hand experience with London, but I will say Dublin would be a great airport for your situation. We went through security with seat requests and waited outside customs. If you don't make it you leave and try again. If you do, you move right to preclearing of US Customs before you hit your gate in DUB. When you get back to the US you are done and don't need to deal with customs. I would assume that would be a plus for battery life.

Not sure if the part about DUB helps but make sure that the SSR is on your listing. Good luck, and happy travels.

At LHR you are able to pass through seccurity with your seat request card. In addition check-in for nonrevs can be completed through self service kiosks just like most places here in the states.

-Ross

Just security, or security & customs? If both, that would be a big plus.

I've flown out of LHR twice, both as a rev pax when I was going to and from SVQ for studying abroad. On the way in, it was a BA->IB connection, and they just scanned the passport as I walked into the gate area. On the way home, I went through customs to leave the airport (missed my flight, had to go out the next day) but getting on a flight to ORD I think they just looked at my passport (maybe scanned, too?) between scanning the boarding pass to board and actually getting on the jetbridge. No questioning or stamps or anything.

You are able to use your seat request to get all the way to the gates :-)

Cool, that makes life much easier:cool: