Carlos del Rio is the head of the unit for passengers with reduced mobility (PMR). He explains that assistance is not just given to people who have issues with their movement but also to the visually and hearing impaired and passengers who may be suffering from the likes of Alzheimer's. There is therefore a range of needs which is covered, but most of these needs apply to senior citizens.
The PMR service doesn't cost anything, and it normally applies from the time that someone checks in. Del Rio notes, though, that it can be arranged before check-in. A member of the PMR staff takes a passenger through controls and can also help the passenger onto the plane if necessary. At arrivals, the service can be used for taking passengers to transfer buses or other forms of onward transport.
Del Rio adds that it is important that passengers give advance notice of their requirements so that the service can function as well as possible. The airports authority Aena says that it wishes to treat passengers with mobility needs "as though they are part of the family". "It is very important for us that they feel well cared for."
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Re comments below about abusing the use of wheelchairs, I have noticed for a long time that most, if not all of the people who use mobility scooters tend to be British and a lot of them seem to be well below the retirement age, as well as obese. More walking and less sitting on their fat bottoms would probably solve their problem.
I am not suggesting anything about you being low value to the Baleares I am mearly having a pop at the mallorca government if you read the bulletin on a daily basis you would realise that so,I suggest you do some homework?
Saw a woman in wheelchair at Luton heading to Palma. Her only disability seemed to be that she was obese. Face like a bag of chisels and she was eating a cornish pasty whilst being pushed! Still in Mallorca she can have a great time and eat all the empanadas and ensaimadas she likes.
We have holidayed on the island for 30 years. We have never stayed all inclusive and eventually bought an apartment for our own holiday use. My wife had to use the assistance by need and the service was always second to none. The "pushers" always being helpful, friendly and obliging. I do not consider we were low value tourists and of no value to the Baleares as Mike suggests.
And they do a really good job. They are courteous, speak English and altogether very helpful and friendly. As our senior population worldwide grows in numbers it’s good to know they will always have the option to travel and be looked after so well on arrival & departure. Well done Palma airport.
I totally agree with Anna. People who are reasonably fit request a wheelchair because it enables them to get on the plane in front of others. I worked at Heathrow and saw this all the time. Con merchants.
The real problem is the miserable nasty old people who dont really need wheelchairs. I see them all the time. Nasty poor miserable people who moan at their wheelchair pusher in English, then literally run from their wheelchair to their seat. Gives genuinely disabled people a bad name and uses up valuable resources. From what I have seen, 1 in 3 dont need this assistance and are pure selfish!
Maybe it’s because they are low value all inclusive tourists of no value to the Baleares?
It is pitiful how disabled passengers who use wheelchairs are left alone in a stark holding area with no facilities before being eventually wheeled to their gate. By far the worst area for this is the space below Duty Free which able-bodied passengers can see clearly on their left as they head down the long route to Terminal A for summer flights. I've seen 10 or more wheelchair passengers just left abandoned like detritus all over the large space - a depressing area.
Is that why they stopped using the electric people transporters around the airport then ? More Bul**hit...