as someone who (in the before times) regularly flew into Central American airports from Belize to Oaxaca and many Carribean islands, stairs were the norm. grab your carry-on and march on into the terminal and out to the taxi stand! the only skybridge was in Mexico City.
not many chair-bound disabled on those flights, but as a one-legged amputee with a prosthetic, I can confirm it is a bit unsettling those first couple of steps down.
really do want to get back to Oaxaca to see papa and his wife!
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A retired relative who winters in Florida notes that those scammers seem to need the wheelchair to get on to the plane, but the plane seems to have magical healing properties that helps them to all walk off on their own, no aid needed or desired.
Scamming like that makes it harder on people with disabilities who have a harder time getting needed accommodations because of it.
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Those jet bridges spoil my Humphrey Bogart Casablanca impersonation.
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“Watch out for hop-ons. Oh, you’re gonna get hop-ons.”
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At the point that both of my parents needed wheelchairs – legitimately – we learned to plan for at least an extra hour to get to our flight because even with pre-booking there would still be a long wait every time for the never-enough workers.
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Every flight I’ve taken into Mexico, just two, actually, one to San Luis Potosi and another to Loreto, have included stairs while deplaning. I really don’t mind it at all, but my family is mobile. Still, the most refreshing part of our journey off the plane, indeed, the chef’s kiss of the budget airlines, includes a stop in the flight deck with a photo of our kids and sobrinos sitting in the captains’ chairs while wearing the captains’ hats.
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“mommy, why does the plane say Northwest?”
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My gripe with taking a hop was that it was first come first served. While officers could sign out on leave via phone call, us enlisted folk had to sign out in person. This meant officers were always first in line and you’d never have a chance of getting on a hop. Then there was the gamble of whether you’d be able to get a return flight.
But a KC-135 was a pretty smooth ride from Ramstein to McGuire
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Gerald Ford would probably agree.
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Sounds like your hubby is :
‘KITN.’ Keepin’ It Together, Nicely.
Good for her.
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Cost-shaving shenanigans aside - it’s not totally arbitrary whether stairs/ramps or jetways are used, usually it’s up to whether the airport has two stories - and of course many of the regional variety don’t. Kind of like how container ship sizes and canal widths are related - plane size and concourse architectures are built to match, (the double A380 decks mentioned in the article can be serviced concurrently (from three doors), via bridges provisioned at the height of 8 meters, vs. the typical 5).
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We often deplaned by stair when we flew cheap charters to Jamaica. Once I even kissed the tarmac as soon as I got off the stairs, I was so happy to be back. The Jamaican workers loved it.
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"some are even adding built-in stairs to their aircraft. "
They don’t come with stairs? I used to see compact folding stairs extrude from many planes back in the 70’s/80’s.
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Then you won’t want to fly HarlockAir then. The worst part is when they’re overbooked…
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Stairs are still quite common at regional airports.
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I think it depends on the plane and who ordered it. On old 737s (maybe newer ones? Haven’t noticed) there is a small door underneath the forward cabin door, from which the built-in stairs descended. Less common aircraft, but on the old F28, the stairs were built into the door itself, which opened downward instead of sideways (example) – but I could see this being a problem when they did use a jetway, so I’m guessing it depended on the specific order.
When using the airstair was more common (e.g. at BNA until the mid-'70s) I can remember going down the built-in airstair in the back of a 727 (like the hijacker jumped from, mentioned upthread), if we happened to be sitting toward the rear of the cabin.
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