BOSTON, M.A. — A Boston man who is paralyzed said his power wheelchair was damaged at Logan Airport and he was not allowed on a plane during a layover at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
Matt Wetherbee is a quadriplegic. Wetherbee relies on his power wheelchair to move around after an accident playing basketball left him paralyzed from the shoulders down. He said an American Airlines flight crew told him they didn’t think his power wheelchair would fit on a plane. He said not only did he have to go without his chair, the airline damaged it.
His name may be a familiar one: Wetherbee completed the Boston Marathon in 2018, pushed by his future wife, Kaitlyn.
Wetherbee was flying out of Logan in Boston and had a layover in Charlotte.
”I’ve flown multiple, maybe 10-plus times on this aircraft,” he told ABC affiliate Boston25. “Now with my same exact (wheelchair) and we know that it fits. And they’re, like, ‘Well, it might not fit. What if we have to turn it on its side?’ And I specifically said the chair cannot go on its side. It will likely get damaged.”
Wetherbee said the $60,000 powered wheelchair was already damaged by a flight crew at Logan.
The crew in Charlotte told him his options were to get off the plane or get on it without his chair. But he couldn’t stay overnight because he didn’t have the right supplied.
”But the key here is because there was too much other passenger luggage,” Wetherbee said. “So, they really just didn’t want to take out some luggage that was already on there, rearrange it, so my chair could fit on it.”
He flew on the airline without the chair and used his shower chair, which he can’t move on his own. He said it is unsafe in a car. The powerchair was returned but won’t turn on, so he can’t get around. ”It’s not safe to not be able to move yourself everywhere if there’s an emergency,” he told Boston25. “People rely on these things just to live their lives where able-bodied people could have done without their luggage for a day.”
Boston 25 News reached out to American Airlines and they sent us this statement that said: “What you’ve shared concerns us and doesn’t reflect American’s care for our customers. Our team will look into this and is reaching out to the customer to better understand his experience.”
A few hours later, American Airlines issued another statement that reads as follows: ”We strive to provide a safe and enjoyable experience to all of our customers, including those who fly with wheelchairs and assistive devices, and we sincerely regret that Mr. Wetherbee had a negative experience with us. Our team is looking into this, and we have reached out to him to apologize and understand what occurred.
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