Paralyzed man says American Airways selected to not load his wheelchair on flight residence from Hawaii

A paralyzed man was left with out his wheelchair when he returned residence from his trip in Hawaii — as a result of American Airways didn’t load it on the airplane, he claimed.

Sam Shivers, who’s paralyzed from the waist down, checked in his wheelchair on the American Airways gate in Hawaii on the finish of his one-week trip along with his spouse final month, KGUN 9 reported.

However when the Tuscon couple landed in Phoenix, the wheelchair was nowhere to be discovered.

“At that time, I virtually felt like throwing up,” Shivers informed the outlet. “I used to be like, ‘Oh my god, what am I going to do?’”

“With out my wheelchair, it’s like I don’t have any legs, I can’t get round,” he stated.

As an alternative, American Airways someway despatched the wheelchair to Los Angeles.

Shivers and his spouse don’t assume it’s a mistake.

They seen one other wheelchair and stroller weren’t loaded onto the airplane both. Shivers stated he would have fortunately traded his baggage for the wheelchair — had he been informed area was a difficulty.

As soon as in Phoenix, the couple had to determine easy methods to get residence. They finally determined to make use of the airport’s transport chair to get Shivers into his van to move residence, the place he had a second wheelchair.

American Airways returned the wheelchair to the couple’s residence about eight hours later.

The airline didn’t instantly return a request for remark.

Shivers says he’s filed a criticism with the Division of Transportation.

Final October, the airline was fined $50 million by the US authorities which stated it “mishandled 1000’s of wheelchairs by damaging them or delaying their return,” amongst different violations within the airline’s therapy of passengers with disabilities.

In 2023, American Airways allegedly misplaced a disabled Missouri man’s prosthetic leg value $26,000 — and refused to pay him again.