ONBOARD ESSENTIALS

BUNGEE CHORDS
One tip that might be useful is bringing a bungee chord with you. If you have a manual, fold up wheelchair, you can use the bunjee chord at the airport to fasten your wheelchair, after you fold it up, together when you fold it up and let the airport assistance or baggage handlers carry it. This way, it won't open up.

Another use of a bungee chord when you're traveling is to fasten, sometimes, a small trunk door of a taxi or cab. Cab trunks don't always fit with luggage and a wheelchair. The wheelchair can go in the backseat as well. But, you may choose to just have it in the trunk and to secure the trunk door down if it won't close all the way.

Click here for to see the Bungee Chord in Action

LIQUIDS AND EATING
Eating and drinking before and during a flight is an important subject when it comes to long flights. I personally don't drink coffee or anything that acts as a catalyst before a flight or during a long flight. There's a benefit and detriment to not drinking a lot of liquids during flight time. The benefit is, of course, you won't have to use the restroom much. The detriment is, you'll get a little dried out or dehydrated.

When I drink liquids on a long flight, I drink them slowly. The faster in, the faster out. The slower in, the slower out. You get the same idea with food. Avoid eating large amounts or greasy meals and eating fast. Also, avoid spicy food before and during a flight. May sound strange, but you can save some trips to the restrooms and avoid having to transfer onto an aisle chair numerous times during a flight.

Transferring onto aisle chairs can be a big process and on airlines, especially Asian airlines, the staff of which, are less relaxed about handicap travelers. Sometimes the flight attendants make a larger deal than necessary about helping out during flights when it comes to transferring disabled travelers onto aisle chairs. In addition, when handicap people in wheelchairs have to use the restroom, they have to access a restroom rather quickly.

Again, bring Immodium AD with you on trips!

SEATING AND RESTROOMS
Get a seat in the back of the plane, especially during long flights. The advantage of having a seat in the back of the plane, if you're in a wheelchair, are many. The flight attendants are back there for one. You have more privacy. The restroom in the back is closer to you and easier to access on a plane. You won't have to deal with a bunch of staring eyes. Finally, most likely, you'll get to stretch out since most people prefer to be as close to the front of the plane as possible so they can disembark faster. In any case, people in wheelchairs are always the last ones to disembark an airplane. You must wait until everyone else disembarks, then, wait for an aisle chair to be brought if you can not walk on your own power. The reason why handicap people who can't walk have to be the last ones to disembark an airplane of course, is because the aisle chair that the airport staff brings onto the plane takes up the aisle and will block everyone trying to get off the plane!

LAYOVERS & CONNECTIONS
Of course it's better to have direct, non-stop flights but direct flights usually cost a lot more money.

Okay, I can't say this enough, if you have a connection to make during a trip, make sure to give your self a couple of hours during the connection. That means, when you're purchasing an airline ticket and you know you'll have a layover somewhere, say, Hong Kong International Airport (HKG), between destinations, you will want to give yourself enough time from the moment you land to your next flight to...

1. wait for all the passengers to disembark the plane before your, usually 20 to 30 minutes
2. have the flight attendants or airport assistance bring an aisle chair to you and strap you in
3. get the lay of the airport land and find your way to the next connection gate. Sometimes, you need to go through customs and immigrations. It happened at Chicago's O'Hare whereby I only had an hour and a half from a flight from Europe, make a connect at O'Hare, and needed to get back home. The customs and immigration line was absolutely long and moved quite slow. I had 30 minutes until my next flight and I was still in line. I asked someone in front of the line if I could go ahead of them because I had only 30 minutes and I was allowed. Phew!
4. deal with the next ticket counter at the next gate
5. use the restroom
6. board the next flight