As someone who is visually impaired, I often rely on assistance to help me travel. It’s hard to navigate an airport; I can’t read the signage, and finding my way through crowds is tricky.
In the CAA’s annual rankings of the country’s 14 biggest airports, Edinburgh, Glasgow Prestwick and Heathrow were all in the “needs improvement” category, while 11 achieved a “very good” rating, including Gatwick – the UK’s second largest airport – which improved on its 2024 “needs improvement” ranking.
Last September, I travelled from Gatwick to Vienna with a friend who uses a wheelchair. Assistance, which we booked in advance, was essential to our journey, and I would describe our experience as mixed.
square ACCESSIBILITY I'm visually impaired, my friend a wheelchair user - this city break was a joy
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However, the assistance was worth the wait as it meant we had time to sort out our belongings for the scanners without being rushed.
The assistance waiting area was crowded, which caused me some anxiety, so I was relieved when someone came to escort us to the gate. For my friend, air travel involves having to transfer to an aeroplane wheelchair, with her own wheelchair going in the hold – something many have identified as problematic, with the risk of wheelchairs being damaged or lost, as well as this being physically uncomfortable.
A Gatwick spokesperson said: “We work closely with our assistance partner Wilson James to support our passengers and continually work to improve our assistance offering as shown with our recent CAA rating of ‘Very Good’.”
While we didn’t use the airport’s assistance service, as each visually impaired person was being guided by someone sighted, the staff I did encounter were helpful.
Selina Chadha, the CAA’s group director for consumers and markets, acknowledged in the report that “all airports have a huge challenge ahead to ensure they continue to offer the assistance services their passengers deserve.”
She is also a founder of the Rights on Flights campaign to combat accessibility and safety barriers for disabled travellers. The government’s Aviation Accessibility Task and Finish Group, meanwhile, aims to develop practical and achievable actions to improve aviation accessibility.
Travel – something that brings me such joy – often comes with an extra level of stress. While I’ve had some good experiences travelling, each time I plan a journey, I worry whether something will go wrong. Disabled people deserve to be able to travel like everyone else.
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