Tale of two airlines with five wheelchairs

Unlike the leg to Australia, the leg back had us experienced worse wheelchair assistance. In fact, the worst one was happened unexpectedly at a renown airport.

Before I go on, I should stress that although these assitance requests were made with the airlines, I noticed that the staff who provided the asistance were from different companies. This is confirmed by the staff at KLIA but he did say that certain airlines had their staff to do it too.

Canberra to Sydney

Interestingly, the Qantas staff at Canberra Airport didn't ask whether we wanted to a staff to wheel my mum. She somehow assumed that we wanted to do it ourselves, which was fine with us.

At Sydney airport, mum was made to walk quite a distance, including the slightly inclined aerobridge, right into the airpot and we were made to wait (with seats available, thank goodness) for the staff to bring a wheelchair for her. Then, unlike previous experience, he just left us right before the exit to the common area. Didn't bother to ask where we're heading and, if he had known, no offer to wheel mum to where we can order an Uber ride.

Sydney to Singapore

The staff at Sydney Airport was a little better this time. My only complaint is that she was glued to her phone most of the time but it's a minor issue as she became alert when needed, most of the time. At the departure gate, mum was asked whether she could walk along the aerobridge to the plane and she said yes. At least she was given an option.

The worst experience shockingly happened at the famed Changi Airport. Firstly, there was no wheelchair waiting at the plane doorstep. Secondly, we were asked to go ahead and look for a buggy (not a wheelchair) that was supposedly waiting for us. The first buggy we saw had no staff there. We had to take the initiative to approach the staff at the second buggy ahead. After more waiting (we had about an hour of transit!), they finally moved us to the skytrain that took us to the relevant terminal for our flight to KL.

Then an awkward situation happened. A couple of senior English (who incidentally had the same chaotic experience we had) were asked to vacate the buggy because there were two more passengers on the same flight as us, which was going to depart 25 minutes earlier than the couple's. This is poor planning by SATS staff. The airlines knew the connecting flights we were taking and how many passengers requested for mobility assistance. There should be more buggies alloted. At the very least, the staff should have asked Ban and me to walk ahead.

Singapore to KL

At KLIA, a staff was waiting with a wheelchair at the plane's doorstep. Unfortunately, he was tasked to drop us at only one location of our choice. I was prepared for this and so I asked him to suggest an eatery that was close to the exit where we can take Grab home. He gave a few suggestions and after some discussion, we settled on the food court, which was our first choice.