It’s a travel nightmare: losing one’s wheelchair. This recently happened to a TikToker who said that she was stuck on a plane as a result.
“Welcome to another episode of United loses my chair,” user Karah Behrend (@kindofaquad) began in her video, which by Friday had been viewed more than 812,000 times. The Daily Dot reached out to her via TikTok comment.
@kindofaquad @united ♬ original sound – Karah Behrend
“Hi my name is Karah and I’m still in the plane when everybody else is gone,” she said as she panned the camera to show that she was the only one on the plane. She then explained that United Airlines lost her wheelchair.
Kara later shared that the airline recovered her wheelchair, but others have had similar experiences. In 2021, disability activist Engracia Figueroa said United Airlines destroyed her custom-made wheelchair.
She needed the wheelchair as a result of a spinal cord injury and a left leg amputation.
After Engracia died months later, the disability organization Hand in Hand claimed that the loss of her wheelchair contributed to her passing because she was forced to sit in a “broken” replacement wheelchair for five hours after landing.
The organization said since the replacement chair didn’t distribute her weight properly, Engracia she developed “a skin ulcer that became infected and gastrointestinal issues that made eating difficult.” She eventually died in the ICU from complications.
Given Engracia and Karah’s story, and many others like them, viewers were quick to call on United Airlines to do better for disabled passengers.
“@united. HOW do y’all keep losing peoples wheelchairs? FR we want answers,” one user wrote in the comments of Karah’s viral video.
“The amount of times i’ve seen an airline lose, damage or fully break someone’s wheelchair is seriously shocking??? is it that hard to not break things,” another added.
“Man this gets my blood boiling. This is such garbage that this happens to you and others. It’s 2023 and this is our best?!” a third commented.
Many tagged the airline’s TikTok page in an effort to get answers.
“GET IT TOGETHER,” one wrote, while another commented, “Do better.”
“@united This is unacceptable. How can this keep happening?” shared a third. Kara also called them out in her video’s caption, writing, “@united yall got me allll sorts of fucked up today. what the absolute fuck is wrong with y’all?”
Kara’s post had other wheelchair users nervous about their own travel plans. “Do they not priority tag wheelchairs so they go last on first off?” user @GriffWheelz wrote. “Kinda concerned as I planned to travel through the US.”
Commenters also shared that had similar experiences while traveling.
“Last time I flew cross country they destroyed my chair,” this user explained, adding that the wheels were so bent that she had to “hobble along” for 24 hours.
“An airline did that to my son, left us on the plane for 2 hours, then come to find out they had it at baggage,” another user shared.
Karah’s story caused some viewers to question whether she could put an Apple AirTag on her wheelchair.
“Can you put an AirTag on it. It works for my keys. I just ordered a strap that tracks my sunglasses,” this user wrote.
The comment was prescient: Kara shared in a follow-up video that thanks to her AirTag, the airline was able to find her wheelchair.
@kindofaquad Replying to @brian_pittborn the air tags saved me a few hours, thankfully it still doesn’t help when the agents don’t look at the tags on the chairs 😅 #airtag #airlinesarentaccessible #justplanewrong ♬ original sound – Karah Behrend