THE WORLD'S ONLY CARRY-ON WHEELCHAIR LLC
WORLDS ONLY CARRY-ON WHEELCHAIR
It can be in the economic best interests of airlines to encourage passengers to stow their wheelchairs in an overhead bin, instead of checking them as baggage. The Falcon (TM) wheelchair is the only wheelchair designed and patented to be placed in an overhead bin.
This patented carry-on wheelchair invention can increase revenue and decrease costs for airlines. Since the passenger’s wheelchair in the overhead bin is always within the reach and sight of the passenger, it will NOT be in the control of the airline. Millions of dollars are spent by airlines every year finding and returning lost and misplaced luggage as well as paying for damages caused when a wheelchair is checked as baggage and damaged by baggage handlers, airport personnel and others while in the airline’s custody and control. Much, if not most, of this financial responsibility, will be shifted to the passenger. Airlines will continue to charge more (directly and indirectly through ticket prices) for the overhead space. There will also always be those passengers who are willing to pay an overhead fee to avoid a checked baggage fee or to get a running start off the plane without having to detour to a Baggage Claim location. This patented chair has been engineered and designed to fit exactly in the International (and national) space limitations of 22”x14”x8” (558.8mm x 355.6mm x 203.2mm)
Air travel by people using wheelchairs is increasing at an accelerating rate. Wheelchair requests by passengers (primarily the elderly and others with reduced mobility) were approximately 15 million in 2017 which was 30% over 2016. It is estimated that by 2030 the number of older adults in the United States will reach or pass 40 million compared to approximately 20 million in 2021
Airline revenues can also be increased by passenger usage of this chair. With this chair the world of travel will open more widely for the world’s seniors, individually and in groups including slow walkers and their team members (companions) as they will be able to travel by air without fear of loss or damage to their wheelchair, increasing ticket sales to the companion and the senior. (Wheelchair users and seniors often travel with a companion). With designated seating and overhead space, much of the pushing and shoving for seats and space can be eliminated, reducing the time for boarding and deplaning.
Persons over 65 seniors are sometimes referred as the Tsunami Generation.
THE INVENTOR-AUTHOR AND HIS AIRLINE PASSENGER EXPERIENCE
For more than 60 years, multimillion miler-inventor Jay Foonberg, the author of this article, has been to more than 153 countries on all 7 continents as a fare paying passenger in all classes and different cabins, as an attorney, a CPA, a marathoner, a scuba diver, a lecturer and an author.
His onboard and airport experiences have been on almost every passenger plane now and previously flying, including, Concorde, DC 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. Boeing 707, 727, 737, 747, 757, 767, 777, and multiple others including Convair, Lockheed, Martin, Tupolev, Sea planes, land planes, ski planes, blimps and many private and regional jets. His passenger experience includes the glory days of passenger aviation, when airplanes had piano bars. His airline clubs included Western, Eastern, TWA, Delta, Varig, Pan Am, Northwest, and others, never suspecting that the airline club Life Memberships, would be their lives, not his.
His serious need for wheelchair air travel ability began when with his mother, grandmother, aunt, grand aunt, sister-in law and friends began requiring wheelchairs.
Lifting their 100+lb wheelchairs to put them into or out of auto trunks and accompanying sore back started his 10 years of invention and engineering to invent a compact wheelchair that would not only fit into overhead bins, but also fit into passenger compartments of autos, ships and other forms of transportation and housing.
Truly in the world of Airline Passenger Experience, the inventor Jay Foonberg has been there and done that. Every wheelchair in the overhead bin is one less that the airline has to be concerned about liability for lost, misdirected or damage.
Properly cased, stowage of this wheelchair, in the overhead bin is in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA), and the IATA Passenger Accessibility Operations Manual (IPAOM) In summary, in addition to any humanitarian or convenience motivation, it is a matter of good business and airline net profit out to encourage passengers to stow their wheelchairs in the overhead bin instead of checking them.
LOOK IT OVER, BUT DON’T OVERLOOK IT
