A sad story about a wheelchair

On monday night, my husband and I went to pick up my in-laws at Miami International Airport. We were so excited for their arrival, we left home early to be there on time and welcome them at the international arrivals area.

I dropped Davide at concourse “D” for international arrivals, and I went to park my car. I dropped him first, so he wouldn’t have to walk with his crutches so much. He had knee surgery on January. Anyway, when I met him at “D”, he tells me that we were at the wrong place, for Alitalia’s arrival we have to go to “J” – Oh crap! That’s what I thought.

We were kind of far… “OK, no problem,” I said, “I’ll get a wheelchair for you, so you don’t have to walk.” That was when the tragedy began.

We started walking towards “J”, we took an elevator to the floor on top and continued moving slowly. As we walked, I see a young man carrying an elder woman in a wheelchair, he looked like he worked at the airport, so I asked him: “where could I get a wheelchair for my husband?” As I pointed at Davide. The young man told me to walk back to the closest checkpoint, which was 3. I left Davide sitting in front of a glass window on Departures at “D”, where you see all the people arriving. I got to checkpoint 3, and I asked a lady the same thing, she told me to go to checkpoint 2.

I passed checkpoint 2, and I saw to my right a small area where there were some wheelchairs, and there were two ladies working there, so I asked: “How can I get a wheelchair for my husband?”

One of them said: where is he? – I didn’t remember exactly where I left him, so I said: “he’s on ‘J’ he can’t come here because he’s on crutches. “Where are you traveling?”. I said: “we are not traveling, we are here to pick up my in-laws who are coming from Italy, I need a wheelchair for him, so he doesn’t have to walk all the way”. We went back and forth with the same questions and answers three times. I started to become desperate. At the end, she explained to me that we couldn’t use the wheelchair because they belonged to American Airlines and concourse D and they were for their customers and since we weren’t traveling, Davide and I pretty much, didn’t count as customers… ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

I left that lady’s non-sense thinking that it couldn’t be true, maybe she is having a bad day, maybe she didn’t understand, it is not possible that a handicapped person with crutches couldn’t get a wheelchair, out of the hundreds they have at the airport, just to go to the arrivals area to wait for his parents.

I started walking back to Davide, and I saw a group of ladies with wheelchairs, and again, I explained the situation, the lady was way nicer to me and told me to talk again with the previous lady I talked to. I explained to her that I already talked to her and that she wasn’t helpful. Then, she suggested to talk to one of the American Airlines workers on the counter to see if they could do something. I looked at all the AA counters and they were busy with passengers, so I thought that wouldn’t be wise.

The time was ticking and I was getting impatient because my in-laws had already landed, and we were not in the arrivals area. I stayed positive and went to Davide, I explained to him what I was told. He got a bit frustrated, but decided to walk slowly with the crutches.

As we started to walk, one of the ladies from checkpoint 2 passed by us with another coworker. I saw her, she saw me, and I said: “This is my husband who needs the wheelchair”. She started to tell me the same thing that her “not so nice coworker” told me earlier. Then, one of them asked: “where did you park?” – I started to think about the letter of the parking lot, but I couldn’t remember. As I was thinking and trying to reply, she interrupted me and said, you should’ve parked on “J”, not around here. I said, “it doesn’t matter where I parked, I just need a wheelchair for him to move him around.” She said: “we are not letting you any wheelchair.” We turned away from them, I kept walking. We had a long way up to the J concourse.

I felt like I failed my husband in the most basic thing, finding a wheelchair for him to be comfortable and not to walk around. I blamed myself for not being more persistent and intense to the women working with the wheelchairs.

As we walked, we passed several empty wheelchairs and all of the sudden I see an “Information Desk” – “Great!, they could help us.” I got on the line, there were two guys before us being helped by a lady. I noticed to the left and man who I didn’t understand if he worked there in the “Information Desk” or had another role at the airport. A few minutes later, he asked: “do you need help?” – “YES!” I said.

Again, I explained to him, we need a wheelchair for my husband, we are picking up his parents, they are coming from Italy, I even said if we could rent the wheelchair, etc… He said they didn’t have wheelchairs, that I had to talk to an airline. So I replied: “So the airport does not have wheelchairs for people coming in to wait for their family who are handicapped?” You won’t believe this… the guys laughed at me, in my face. When he saw I wasn’t laughing, he asked: “where are you going?” – I said: “don’t worry.” And we kept on walking slowly to the J concourse.

If before I was feeling as an “epic fail,” now I felt worse, this man from “Information Desk” laughed at my face, at my husband need of a wheelchair, HOW DARE HIM?. Davide didn’t say much, he just kept walking and walking. I kinda admired his spirit and determination, but the frustration and anger I was feeling were overwhelming.

While I was trying to keep myself together, Davide’s cellphone started ringing, it was a WhatsApp call from a Brazilian number we didn’t know. He picked up the call, and it was his father, my father-in-law, they were worried because they had got to the arrivals area and we were not there. Davide told him to wait for us and that we would be there in a minute.

Now, my list of emotions kept growing, I was so ashamed with my in-laws for not being there to meet them, and all thanks to the fact that the Miami International Airport does not allow a handicapped person to use a wheelchair if she or he isn’t traveling or flying. So consider yourself an idiot for thinking that MIA is all-handicapped-people friendly.

We finally got to the arrivals lobby and met with my in-laws. Davide sat for a few minutes to rest and to catch his breath, walking with crutches isn’t easy. We left the airport, but my mind can’t still concede the fact that there are not lending or renting of wheelchairs in the Miami International Airport for cases as mine and Davide. Sad, but true.