CHARLOTTE — A woman with a broken foot says she had to take the stairs because an elevator wasn’t working at Charlotte Douglas Airport.
Channel 9′s Gina Esposito has been digging into those elevator issues and uncovered a common problem with a number of them.
Esposito’s investigation began in July when she witnessed a woman wheelchair wait 30 minutes for an elevator.
It was a busy evening, and it was the only one working, while the other one was out of service. Esposito then began investigating how often elevators close at Charlotte Douglas and why.
Between suitcases, strollers, and wheelchairs, elevators at Charlotte Douglas get a lot of use, with between 6,000 travelers a day.
Michael Starr said last summer he and his daughter encountered one that wasn’t working.
“We noticed there was a line at the elevator. Folks were pressing the button. The elevator wasn’t moving at all,” Starr said.
Starr said he didn’t see any closure signs or airport staff there to help out, so he emailed a complaint to the airport.
He received a response from someone saying they would talk with the operations manager.
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“I was feeling very bad for those folks—there were no carts or anything to bring those disabled folks. And having disabled folks in my family, my elderly parents, just thinking of them making that walk. It really had me worried for them,” Starr elaborated.
Starr went on to say that because the elevator wasn’t working, everyone had to work to the next closest elevator, which was a long trip.
That same month, a woman emailed Charlotte Douglas about elevators in the parking structure not working. She said she had a broken foot and was forced to climb the stairs to the fourth floor.
Last month, when an elevator near one of the terminals was roped off, the airport said it needed a new control board.
Charlotte Douglas explained that it contracts with a company to maintain and repair its elevators, escalators, and walkways 24/7.
“The more units you have, the more likelihood you will have units shut down,” said Joey Hazelrigg with the North Carolina Department of Labor.
Hazelrigg said the elevators go in and out of service for a number of reasons. But they are inspected and re-permitted once a year.
“If we find an elevator that is causing an unsafe condition to the public, we are removing that elevator from service and issuing a shutdown order,” said Hazelrigg. “I pulled state inspection reports and found ‘8′ elevators at Charlotte Douglas were shut down in 2022 and 2023 for not having working emergency phones. Several others were issued violations.”
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Charlotte Douglas said it was a temporary issue over a year ago as the airport transitioned some of its systems.
When asked if he was aware of instances where they received delays in emergency care because of non-working phones at the airport, Hazelrigg responded, “I did hear of an instance where this happened. It took emergency personnel longer than it should have because they were unable to determine where they were, and I think it may be the reason these shutdown orders were issued.”
Starr said he doesn’t need all the answers; he just wants better communication with travelers.
“Make accessibility a priority, and that’s going to be demonstrated in actual action,” Starr explained.
The airport told Channel 9 that it is working on a plan to better communicate when an elevator is shut down.
It also addressed the fact that the elevator by the parking garage, which was closed in July, was shut down due to water damage.
If you want to report an elevator concern, you do so here. You can also report an issue by calling the number inside the elevator to reach the Department of Labor.
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