An online resource for travelers with disabilities
Houston, TX
October 6-7, 2010
Continental Airlines officially merged with United Airlines on October 1, 2010
It has been our highest honor to sit on the Continental Airlines Customers with Disabilities Advisory Board (CACDAB) since 2008. When approached three years ago by Customer First and Regulatory Programs Manager Bill Burnell and his team, we leapt at the opportunity to help make a difference for one of our favorite travel providers. This company has always had the contagious postitive attitude towards PWD and act as family taking care of you on the road. The company’s long-term dedication to going above and beyond the regulations for handling customers with disabilities is applaudable. Therefore to be one of their advisors on the topic is the hugest honor one could have.
We were invited to visit Northwest’s board in early 2008 in Detroit just before their merger with Delta, and subsequent dissolvement, and as Burnell always says, we learned what not to do. From there Continental gathered an all-star team of representatives from the travelers with disabilities community, representing as many disabilities as possible including many levels of physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities. Each meeting the Continental crowd would grow larger and larger, with multiple employees from dozens of departments coming to listen, give input, and learn at these extremely productive and educational meetings.
This Wednesday, during the board’s fifth and final pow-wow under the Continental name, the crowd grew to about 80 eager bodies including the board, Burnell’s super team, a first-time appearance from the Pilot’s Department and smaller regional airports, and three United Managers. The morning opened with a surprisingly heart-warming speech about marriage from Vice President of Airport Operations and Planning, Cindy Szadokierski, of “the New United,” former French teacher who got the “jet fuel in [her] blood” used phrases like “team effort,” “leaving the past stigma behind,” and closed with Craig’s favorite line of the two days, “at the next meeting.”
As board members, we applaud the United team for sitting in open minded during this final and therefore sometimes emotional meeting, as the new step sisters and brothers to this family who has laughed and cried together for two years now. Their input was invaluable, and their note taking did not go by unnoticed. Hopefully this board can only continue to grow in the most beneficial ways as possible during this merger.
What the next year will look like:
You will start to see the airplanes and uniforms merging, with Continental’s logo remaining on the tail and the United name down the body of the aircrafts (above). Pins combining both were handed out to employees.
Mileage points rewards programs will merge.
In the spring of 2011 on “Customer Day One” the policies will merge and customers will “feel a more streamlined experience.”
Next, the FAA certificate as one formal airline will be awarded.
United is still “committed to Continental’s slogan of “Offering the highest standard of clean, safe, reliable (and accessible) transportation.”
The New United will become the largest, most powerful, and hopefully the most accessible airline in the world.
What has happened since March 2010:
Continental Update
It will take some time for this merger to shake out into a product that we all love and company we all patronize, but we are optimistic, and we hope you will be too.
Thanks to Continental for introducing us to an amazing team of dedicated employees and board members.
More on CACDAB and airline travel
CACDAB4
May 2009, TWD’s updated rights
CACDAB2
Houston, TX
October 6-7, 2010
Continental Airlines officially merged with United Airlines on October 1, 2010
It has been our highest honor to sit on the Continental Airlines Customers with Disabilities Advisory Board (CACDAB) since 2008. When approached three years ago by Customer First and Regulatory Programs Manager Bill Burnell and his team, we leapt at the opportunity to help make a difference for one of our favorite travel providers. This company has always had the contagious postitive attitude towards PWD and act as family taking care of you on the road. The company’s long-term dedication to going above and beyond the regulations for handling customers with disabilities is applaudable. Therefore to be one of their advisors on the topic is the hugest honor one could have.
We were invited to visit Northwest’s board in early 2008 in Detroit just before their merger with Delta, and subsequent dissolvement, and as Burnell always says, we learned what not to do. From there Continental gathered an all-star team of representatives from the travelers with disabilities community, representing as many disabilities as possible including many levels of physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities. Each meeting the Continental crowd would grow larger and larger, with multiple employees from dozens of departments coming to listen, give input, and learn at these extremely productive and educational meetings.
This Wednesday, during the board’s fifth and final pow-wow under the Continental name, the crowd grew to about 80 eager bodies including the board, Burnell’s super team, a first-time appearance from the Pilot’s Department and smaller regional airports, and three United Managers. The morning opened with a surprisingly heart-warming speech about marriage from Vice President of Airport Operations and Planning, Cindy Szadokierski, of “the New United,” former French teacher who got the “jet fuel in [her] blood” used phrases like “team effort,” “leaving the past stigma behind,” and closed with Craig’s favorite line of the two days, “at the next meeting.”
As board members, we applaud the United team for sitting in open minded during this final and therefore sometimes emotional meeting, as the new step sisters and brothers to this family who has laughed and cried together for two years now. Their input was invaluable, and their note taking did not go by unnoticed. Hopefully this board can only continue to grow in the most beneficial ways as possible during this merger.
What the next year will look like:You will start to see the airplanes and uniforms merging, with Continental’s logo remaining on the tail and the United name down the body of the aircrafts (above). Pins combining both were handed out to employees.
Mileage points rewards programs will merge.
In the spring of 2011 on “Customer Day One” the policies will merge and customers will “feel a more streamlined experience.”
Next, the FAA certificate as one formal airline will be awarded.
United is still “committed to Continental’s slogan of “Offering the highest standard of clean, safe, reliable (and accessible) transportation.”
The New United will become the largest, most powerful, and hopefully the most accessible airline in the world.
What has happened since March 2010:
Continental Update
It will take some time for this merger to shake out into a product that we all love and company we all patronize, but we are optimistic, and we hope you will be too.
Thanks to Continental for introducing us to an amazing team of dedicated employees and board members.
More on CACDAB and airline travel
CACDAB4
May 2009, TWD’s updated rights
CACDAB2
From October 19-20, 2010 the Open Doors Organization, IATA, and The Houston Downtown Crowne Plaza are sponsoring the 2010 Universal Access in Airports Conference, an annual event that provides “a unique opportunity for dialogue among the various stakeholders in the aviation industry.” This 2-day conference will offer industry leaders a highly informative and educational forum to exchange ideas that address issues relating to accessibility to, in and around airports.
This conference is designed to address issues relating to accessibility in, around and to airports. We have created a forum for you to share and learn about best practices, ADA guidelines, and application of new technology.
Access Anything is proud to be a part of this event in leading a discussion panel on Service Animals in the Airport, assisting both airport managers and airline personnel in making a smooth travel experience for those that travel with working dogs and others.
Other Highlights of this Conference:
Registration
Register at the Houston Crowne Plaza
Sponsorship Opportunities
For additional information contact Eric Lipp (773)388-8839 or email ericlipp@opendoorsnfp.org
This letter came in to us from a friend who blew out both his MCL and ACL (knee) and had to fly United on crutches. It was so harrowing, that I had to share it. We’ve had Craig’s wheelchair broked twice, his shower chair broken three times, and almost denied access because the new flight attendant mistook the word “pet” in her FAA guidebook for “service dog.” But we stopped flying United a long time ago when we heard they were the only airline that did NOT go through disability training. We found out who got the highest marks on customer satisfaction -disabled or not- and fly with them: Continental.
So here’s Damien’s story…. (injured on a kayaking trip deep in the backcountry) It’s long, but then, most of these stories are…
“I had to fly 2 days after my accident so I called ahead to get a wheelchair to my gate on all my stops. I’m on a free ticket so I stop about 14 times, which I don’t understand instead of taking up room on one flight I’m taking up room on almost every flight United has that day, plus I’m traveling 10,000 miles to get to a destination that’s only 1500 away. When I got to the airport in Raleigh they told me it was going to be a 30 minute wait for the wheel chair. I might have missed my flight if I waited so I crutched it down to the gate. Of course the gate I was going to was the farthest possible from the ticket counter. I must have been run into 5 times by gapers looking at the gate numbers and not where they were going or people just in a hurry to make their flights and didn’t care who they knocked out of the way. I was also sore from paddling out the day before so I had to stop about every 10 yards or so and rest my arms.
I get to my gate and ask if I can pre-board with First Class. The First Class passengers look pissed that I get in line with them. It’s a class issue, like I was scamming them with my fake crutches to try to be better than I really am. (On United they have First Class walk over a Red Carpet and then they rope it off and make everyone else walk around it. Is this the 19th century?? I almost expected not to have a window or life preserver when I got to my seat!!) When I get on board I ask them to make sure they call a wheelchair to the gate.
“No problem,” the flight attendant says.
When I get to Dulles, no wheelchair. I try to ask someone but there is a line and the gate agent, not too politely, asks me to go to the end of the line as she thinks I’m trying to get on the outbound of the flight I was just on and am cut because of my crutches. I can’t wait and hobble again to the next gate. With no hands to carry anything, I tied a plastic bag with all my personal belonging, tickets, wallet, cell phone, magazine and water bottle, to the handle of one of my crutches. As I’m about to get on the terminal shuttle, the bag breaks and my stuff goes everywhere. The look on everyone’s face was priceless. “Do I help or not?” No one helps but I got a lot of looks of pity and end up missing the shuttle because I’m picking up all my stuff. I get to the gate and there’s no open seat; no one offers to get up. I find a seat on the floor and wait for my next leg to Chicago.
I get to Chicago, again no wheelchair again but this time I feel like I’m in luck because I’m only about 4 gates from my next departure to Denver. In between was a bar and I was ready for a drink, but again, no seats. I wait for a seat near the entrance in a pretty obvious place. Apparently cell phones make people oblivious because as soon as a seat opens up a suit on his cell brushes past me and takes the seat. I was about to say something but another seat opened up right after and I took that one and let it go. Again I board and again I get dirty looks when I board with the First Class passengers. This time I didn’t get permission to board with them and she points out that I’m not in the right class to be boarding first but lets me on.
I get to Denver and, hooray, there’s a wheelchair waiting for me. I’m almost in tears I’m so happy. I have to go all the way down to the end terminal to pick up the little prop plane to Steamboat but I had to stop at the bathroom on the way. The guy stops at the bathroom and when I come out he’s gone!! The *&%$er ditched me!! I can’t get on the moving walkway in crutches, so I have to hobble my way down again. I get down to the gate and they tell me I won’t be able to make it down the stairs to the tarmac so they call another wheelchair for me. Guess who shows back up??? The Ditcher!!! He wheels me around when he gets to the bottom he stands there and waits for a tip. I was so pissed so I gave him a fake novelty $3 bill my Dad gave me with a picture of Bill Clinton on it. This guy was from India so didn’t know the difference and pocketed it.
I sit down at the gate for a while until we get word that they don’t have a pilot to fly the plane. He’s in Phoenix and and will be here in 2 hours. All of the passengers go back up to the concourse but the lady tells me I have to stay because they can’t get a wheelchair to bring me back up. I guess that Indian guy was at the bar spending his $3 bill. Everyone leaves and I had to sit down there by myself for 2 hours with no water or access to the bathroom.
We had some testy weather and they told us we might have to go back to Denver but luckily we landed and I was asleep in my bed about an hour later. It hindsight everything else seems pretty easy to get around crutches on.”
-Damien
