Photo: Peter KaminskiI have heard a lot of reasons for planes being delayed, but this was a new one. My Delta flight out of JFK was just about to push back from the gate when the captain made an announcement. He explained that there is a wheelchair on board every flight, and the one on this plane had had a malfunction – the handle broke, he said – which made it unusable. It didn’t seem to matter that no passengers on the flight had needed a wheelchair to board: the plane couldn’t take off, he said, until a replacement was brought on board.
How long could that possibly take? JFK is a big airport; there had to be lots of wheelchairs around.
The captain kept coming back onto the P.A. system to announce the progress. The ground crew found another chair, but it didn’t fit this plane. The ground crew heard of another plane nearby with a spare wheelchair, but that turned out to not be true.
The captain and the rest of the crew handled the delay about as well as it could be handled, but a few people got off the plane rather than keep waiting. Someone asked one flight attendant if the wheelchair was really so vital: couldn’t someone grant a dispensation to allow the flight to take off without it?
The flight attendant replied, a bit sternly, that the Americans With Disabilities Act expressly forbade the plane from taking off without the wheelchair. I know the A.D.A. hasn’t been a big winner in producing jobs for disabled workers and that it keeps doctors from treating disabled patients, but I didn’t know it could also ground a plane even if there are no disabled people on board. (I am not sure the flight attendant was 100% accurate; I don’t see a mention of this regulation in the A.D.A.)
Finally, 2.5 hours after our expected takeoff, Delta came up with another wheelchair that fit, and we headed for the runway.
On the bright side: the flight had wi-fi, so I was able to write this blog post at 35,000 feet, as we hurtled westward through the pitch-black sky.
and 
. You can also watch it on 
Check out the This American Life podcast called Crybabies. Lots of unintended consequences of the ADA.
We’re all handicapped in one way or another. Some folks just have it a little bit worse. But applying a bandaid that only fits 1% of the customers to the rest of us results in more waste than benefit.
I’m always amazed at who can get a blue parking tag in this country. I see fully-abled people getting out of handicapped badged vehicles at Wal-Mart all the time.
If an otherwise able-bodied person were to get sick or injured on the plane, it could be hard to remove them without a wheelchair. Delta could rationally believe that the costs associated with such a situation would be too expensive to warrant the risk, especially if the delay will not impose significant costs on the airline.
The regulation is contained in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 14 (Aeronautics and Space), Chapter II–Office of the Secretary, Department of Transportation (Aviation Proceedings), Part 382 (Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel).
Section 382.65 sets forth the requirements concerning on-board wheelchairs, and states in relevant part: As a carrier, you must equip aircraft that have more than 60 passenger seats, and that have an accessible lavatory (whether or not
having such a lavatory is required by Sec. 382.63 of this part) with an on-board wheelchair.
I had a similarly bizarre issue on a domestic flight in the US a couple of years ago. The captain, in an embarrassed voice told us that the ashtray in the cockpit was missing, and they were required by law to have it installed or the flight could not depart.
Never mind that smoking has long since vanished on most commercial flights – the rules are still in place and we were kept on the ground for 30 minutes while somebody went off to hunt for the replacement!
The rule probably made sense back when smoking was permitted since a safe place would be needed to extinguish cigarettes on board but it certainly left all of the passengers with very confused looks on their faces…
I’d think whatever medical personnel would be waiting for a plane with a sick or injured person on board would bring their own stretchers or the like, though.
I was on a plane where we waited at the gate for 45 minuets because a mechanic had to confirm that the hot water in the aft bathroom did not work.
Your reasoning is similar to saying one doesn’t need a first aid kit because they’re not hurt right now. The wheelchair is a little insurance policy for accidents and unforeseen circumstances (for instance: fatigue, motion sickness, or an injured ankle). Disabled people aren’t the reason for wheelchairs on airlines; if you’re disabled an need and require a wheelchair for mobility, chances seem likely you’re not relying on the airline company to provide you with one.
As an economist, Mr. Dubner, I would expect a little deeper interpretation than a two-hour inconvenience.
2.5 hours delay on the ground is a significant cost to the airline and to the scores of passengers delayed. If the plane lands and someone has difficulty getting off he could be assisted by human beings or a wheelchair at the landing terminal. What if two people need assistance and their is only one chair? One disabled person would still be inconvenienced.