Wheelchair Service in CLT?

I have a friend who may be joining us in November, and her connection times are short both coming down and returning, through CLT. She has an illness that makes breathing difficult, so running through the airport is not going to happen. Does anyone here have any experience with the wheelchair service in CLT? Is it reliably on time? Her connection on the way down is only 40 minutes, and from experience, I know that the two gates are both at the ends of different spokes of the wheel in CLT.

Georgia,

If my personal experience in CLT is any indication, and while I’m sorry to suggest this, she’s most likely not going to make it. And if her arriving flight is late, no way.

We sometimes arrive at CLT on a regional jet which comes in literally almost a mile from where the SXM flight departs. (I said this kiddingly to a wheelchair porter one time and he said it is almost a full mile from gate to gate.)

Add to that the issue of the porter being there as soon as your friend deplanes and the issue of when they issue the last call for boarding before shutting the door on the outbound and the whole scenario could be bad news.

In our case it didn’t help at all that our porter was very chatty and knew almost everyone she encountered along the way and stopped briefly to exchange pleasantries with most of them.

We did make the flight but had more time to do so. Is there no other possibility for her?

Made a similar flight in January with time to spare.

So there you have it - both sides of the same coin.

It can happen but it can also be problematic. Or perhaps my experience was an anomaly?

Good luck to your friend. I hope it works.🙂🙂

Forty minute connection time is crazy. And adding in the need for a wheelchair makes it a recipe for disaster.

Thanks everyone. She was able to find flights with longer connections!

Georgia--Good to hear that. I hope she isn't going through Miami, as I can't really recommend the wheelchair service there either. Although perhaps I will find out differently today.. One can only hope..

She's going through Charlotte; I advised her against Miami. She probably won't use wheelchair service at all, as she has plenty of time between flights.

Maybe she can jump on one of those things that beep and scare the heck out of you.

Georgia--that's wise to avoid Miami in general.

I think that AA stopped using carts in CLT. They’re not even available with AA’s 5-Star service.