Making Air Travel Safe for Seniors
If you've ever found yourself packing an overnight bag just for the trip from one airport terminal to another, making sure to bring along your electron microscope so you could read the information on your ticket along the way, then chances are you've caught on to the fact that air travel isn't the most senior-friendly activity in the world.
With any luck, a glance through the following Top-10 list of hindrances for senior flyers will help give you the upper hand the next time you have to travel by air. It's been put together by the publishers of the new Air Travel Guide for Seniors and Disabled Passengers, and by the US Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality (SATH).
Seniors Top-10 Obstacles and Irritants when traveling by air:
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Quality of assistance from airline to airline, and even flight to flight, that changes faster than you can say "nose dive".
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Arriving at the airport/aircraft and finding that the 'special arrangements' you made were so special that no one felt worthy enough to remember them.
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Delays. Oh yeah, and then more delays.
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Economy-class seating that makes you seriously consider leaving your arms and shoulders at home next time.
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Corridors in airports that are so long you're sure they were made to be seen from the sky.
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Travel "health" insurance that, uh oh, surprisingly doesn't provide any actual medical coverage.
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Audio announcements in the airport terminal that sound like they're teaching a dog to talk.
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Getting to wait in line not once, not twice, but several times!
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Directional aids that make you start thinking a big piece of cheese will be just around the next corner.
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Ticket, insurance, and other agreement information being available in small-type only.
Hopefully, as airline and airport types start to catch on to how many seniors are using their services and facilities, your next trip on a plane will feel more like a vacation and less like an episode of Survivor. In the meantime, remember those three magic words: Complaints Resolution Officer, and those other three magic words: prepare, prepare, prepare.
The Air Travel Guide for Seniors and Disabled Passengers retails for $16.95 and is now available in select bookstores. As part of a limited-time promotion, interested readers can get the book for 25% off and have it inexpensively shipped to their home by calling 1-888-755-8466.
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