Airlines damaging wheelchairs: A systemic issue for the Disability Community

Latavia Sturdivant, has Cerebral Palsy — according to her doctors, the most severe form — and she uses a custom-made wheelchair. For her, and many others with various disabilities, a wheelchair is their only way of traveling, and it’s a necessity. She is a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) in New York and Maine, an adjunct professor at Lehman College, and the host, content creator, and editor of the Queens On A Roll podcast.

She is also a Certified Lead Advocate for the Amputee Coalition, a TEDx speaker, the author of “The Illusion of Inclusion,” and the 2026 Ms. Wheelchair America winner.

She recently had two separate incidents where Delta Airlines damaged her wheelchair on return flights to LaGuardia Airport after events.

On Jan. 30, 2026, she flew back from Rapid City, South Dakota, after attending Ski for Light, an adaptive skiing event, landing at LaGuardia at 7:05 p.m. On April 11, 2026, after presenting at a Neurotrauma Symposium in Jackson, Mississippi, she was again scheduled to land at LaGuardia at 12:38 PM on Delta.

Leading up to when she arrived at her destination and realized her wheelchair was damaged, Sturdivant said, “Everything felt normal — the routine that wheelchair users face when flying, including additional challenges like navigating connecting flights. But the crucial moment is always waiting at the gate. You’re left in uncertainty, aware that your essential mobility equipment could come back broken. On both of these Delta flights, that’s exactly what happened. This anxiety is part of a systemic problem for disabled travelers.”

Disability advocate Emily Ladau. Photo courtesy Rick Guidotti, founder and director of Positive Exposure

Emily Ladau is another disability advocate who has had this happen recently. On March 9, she was scheduled to depart NYC from LaGuardia Airport on a Delta Airlines flight to Minneapolis, MN, arriving at 1:50 p.m. After a short layover, she was scheduled to leave Minneapolis at 3:22 p.m. and return to NYC at LaGuardia Airport at 7 p.m. She was traveling to Wisconsin for a speaking engagement.

“When I landed at St. Paul Airport, Minneapolis, I was waiting for them to bring my wheelchair down the jetway so that they could meet me at the door of the plane, and I could get off the plane. A complaint resolution officer approached me and said there had been an incident with the chair: it had fallen while they were taking it off the plane and was damaged. But she didn’t know how much,” she stated.

After Sturdivant discovered her wheelchair was damaged for the first time, she notified airport personnel, who called their supervisors. She filed a claim, and they agreed to pay for the damages. The second time, airport personnel assisted her throughout her entire trip to prevent further damage, yet her wheelchair was still returned damaged.

For her, repairs were necessary both times, with extensive damage. On Jan. 30, damage to her wheelchair included: the right lateral support bent, with the metal cracked in half; the back of the chair, and the case that protects the wires was open.

“This wasn’t just inconvenient — it was a safety risk. The process of getting it repaired was deeply frustrating, and that’s because we have a durable medical equipment crisis in this country. Medicaid Managed Care in New York is reimbursing providers 30–40% less than the 1987 rate they’re supposed to receive, so we’ve lost independent providers across the state. We’re down to only two national wheelchair vendors, and braces and prosthetics have had a 20% attrition rate over the last 10 years. That directly translates into longer wait times to get equipment or repair — and that played out here,” she explained.

With Sturdivant having a custom chair, every component is fitted to keep her body aligned and prevent contractures (a condition of shortening and hardening of muscles, tendons, or other tissues, often leading to restricted joint mobility). Additionally, when there is an issue with custom wheelchairs, you have to take them apart to fully assess what’s wrong.

In addition, Ladau described the process for getting a new wheelchair as the following: “Somebody needs to come and take all of the proper measurements and get all of the proper information and then place the order for the wheelchair. That is, in and of itself, a slow process, especially if it is going through insurance. But it’s a slow process because you have to work with a company to gather all the information and submit it to them. They have to get all the information to the wheelchair manufacturer. 
They have to place the order. You have to wait for the order to come in. Then they have to bring you the chair, and you have to try it out and make sure it works for you and make sure that there don’t need to be any adjustments, but there usually do need to be some adjustments.”

Addressing Delta’s response, Sturdivant said the airline’s insurance was willing to assess the damage at her home and provide a loaner chair. However, for actual repairs, they told her that the only two providers in their network were in Long Island or New Jersey.

“I live in Yonkers, NY, and traveling that far in the condition my chair was in was not an option, so I had to refuse. My mother was willing to take out a loan to cover the parts so I could go to my vendor in the Bronx — 15 minutes from home — and Delta would reimburse her. Initially, Delta’s insurance agreed. The next day, they reversed course and said they had to work directly with the vendor — but my vendor doesn’t accept Delta’s insurance. I had to involve the news media to get things moving. Only then did my vendor agree to a one-time courtesy to accept Delta’s insurance,” she added.

Following an evaluation, the parts were ordered. Then the repairs could happen. She was out of work for six weeks, in excruciating back pain, and her chair was finally fixed on March 11, 2026.

But this happened again a month later. This time, the chair’s back won’t recline, and the lateral supports are bent and need to be replaced. She has filed another claim with Delta Airlines, and they’ve reached out to her Bronx-based company that makes her custom wheelchair. An evaluation appointment is scheduled. In the meantime, Sturdivant is in excruciating back pain because she can’t change her positioning in the chair.

For Ladau, her wheelchair was so badly damaged that she didn’t bring it home. More than a month later, on April 22, she finally received a replacement paid for by the airline, not insurance.

When asked how the situation would be resolved, Sturdivant shared that Delta agreed to cover the repair costs for both incidents, and there has been follow-up on her specific claims. However, to her knowledge, no formal investigation has been launched.

An important thing to note is that every wheelchair-using passenger’s experience can be different. Ladau echoed this, saying that for wheelchair users, getting a new one can take a couple of weeks or months, depending on each individual’s situation.

When asked how to drive broader change, Sturdivant stated, “Airlines must require standardized training for staff on handling durable medical equipment, implement clear accountability through policies and oversight, enforce real consequences when damage occurs, and ensure all airport personnel demonstrate empathy in every role.”

That’s why Sturdivant wrote her book and reflective journal, “The Illusion of Inclusion,” which challenges individuals, groups, and organizations to examine whether inclusion is truly being practiced. It is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Shop Books Direct. “I always say my wheelchair is my legs, not a piece of luggage — and until that is fully recognized, this will continue to happen,” Sturdivant continued.

Ladau expressed a similar sentiment, adding that although Delta does have a disability advisory board, it remains important for this airline — and others across the country — to consult with the disability community.

“The airline industry in general needs to be in conversation with the disability community, and they also need to put stronger protections in place legally and across the airline industry,  to protect people’s mobility devices, because right now, the laws in place are not strong enough to prevent this.  my hope is eventually that they will actually move to, allowing people with mobility devices to keep their mobility devices on the plane.  I would want to sit in my wheelchair on the plane and not have it taken away from me and put in the cargo.  There are efforts working towards this, but the industry is just not there yet,” Ladau continued.

To build on previous points, Ladau discussed recommendations she, Sturdivant, and other disability advocates have for airlines, particularly regarding educating them about this issue.

“The most important thing is consulting with the disability community, improving  communication. not just with the disability community, but across airline staff, so that everyone is as informed as possible on how to handle mobility equipment safely, making sure that there are procedures in place for protecting mobility equipment when they are loaded onto the plane, during flights, and after flights as they’re taking them off the plane. So, really just like a system-wide effort to  take more care with mobility devices and protect them,” Ladau added.