Jetway Jesus travel scam explained…
How are they getting away with that?
It’s an oddly acquainted scene: you’re ready for your boarding group to be called at your flight’s gate, watching a wheelchair certain passenger dodge strains and board the aircraft first. Yet, once the aircraft lands, you’re scratching your head at that same flyer strolling unassisted off the flight, no wheelchair in sight.
You’re not seeing issues — it’s supposedly a sneaky little travel scam that social media customers are nicknaming “jetway Jesus” or “miracle flights.”
Ask for a wheelchair, get escorted to your gate, board before the remainder of your flight, and snag an overhead bin before everybody else does — it feels like a traveler’s dream.
It appears that many gutsy vacationers are getting away with this because they’re not requested for proof of any incapacity by an airline.
To get this VIP treatment, a flyer merely has to ask their airline for help, either a few days before their scheduled flight or once they’re checking in at the airport.
As acknowledged on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s web site, “When a passenger with a disability requests assistance from an airline to move through the airport, the airline is required to promptly provide the requested assistance.”
Many are accusing their fellow flyers of faking a incapacity to get VIP treatment at the airport. bignai – stock.adobe.com
And technically, the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) prohibits an airline from side-eyeing a passenger, considering they could be misusing the service.
“In situations where there is uncertainty about the access needs of a passenger, a carrier may ask the passenger for credible verbal assurance that the passenger needs the service and how the service assists with the passenger’s disability,” the U.S. DOT’s website states.
Technically, an airline doesn’t have to ask for bodily proof if a passenger claims they’ve a incapacity. Framestock – stock.adobe.com
While many are accusing their seatmates of faking their incapacity, others in the r/todayilearned discussion board on Reddit are defending those who are seen in a wheelchair one minute but then strolling the next.
“…you also have people who can walk a shortish distance but can’t walk the entire way across an airport. My mom is currently dealing with this sort of thing — she can walk a short ways just fine, but if she walks too far, she gets crippling pain in her leg. So yeah, last time we flew together, she took a wheelchair to the gate, but she was perfectly capable of getting off the plane on her own,” one commenter identified.
“It may look like that when you see someone like me wheeled up there but what you don’t know is that I don’t have the strength or stamina to walk all the way through the airport without a significant health issue. Standing in line is also a real serious problem because I can’t stand for that long. I can stand and walk, but not well and not for long,” another person wrote.
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