Her scooter was damaged on a flight. She says it keeps happening.

• A disability advocate's mobility scooter was damaged during a Southwest Airlines flight.
• The traveler, Maria Town, noted this is a recurring issue for people with disabilities who fly.
• U.S. airlines mishandled 1.09% of mobility devices in 2025, an improvement from 1.26% in 2024.

When Maria Town got off her flight to New Orleans she wasn’t surprised her mobility scooter was damaged. She was still disappointed. 

“I chose my mobility aid because of how easy it is to get and how easy it is to replace. This is not the first time my scooter has been broken by an airline, and it won’t be the last,” she told USA TODAY. “My choice of my mobility aid is directly informed by my experience of it being broken during air travel.” 

Town is the president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities and has cerebral palsy. She traveled from Washington, DC, to New Orleans on Southwest Airlines on April 8 for a work engagement, but when she arrived, her scooter wouldn’t power on. 

“It looked, at first glance, it looked fine, so I did most of the things that you’re supposed to do. I reset the circuit breaker in the battery. I physically took out the battery and put it back in, it would not turn on,” she said. 

Southwest staff also tried to take the device apart, and Town eventually realized that a wire had likely been disconnected in transit. 

“Sure enough, on the bottom of the scooter, a major wire was just pulled out,” she said. 

It took about a month for her scooter to be repaired – Town’s claim with the airline was closed on April 24. Town had a loaner available to her when she returned home on April 9. 

“The expectation is that the customer will take their broken or damaged device with them to their destination,” she said. “What am I going to do with a completely inoperable scooter?” 

Town added that in an emergency, it can be difficult for people who rely on mobility devices to organize a loaner outside of business hours. 

“A huge issue with durable medical equipment providers is that they’re really only open between 9 to 5. If you need a device before 9 a.m. or after 5 p.m., it’s really hard to find one,” she said. “People don’t lead their lives just between the hours of 9 and 5.” 

Southwest Airlines acknowledged they had been in contact with Town following the incident. 

“While we do not comment publicly on individual Customers’ experiences, we have been in direct contact with this Customer to resolve the situation. We are committed to providing a safe, welcoming, and accessible travel experience for all, including Customers with disabilities who travel with assistive devices,” the airline told USA TODAY in a statement. “Our Teams work hard every day to support Customers with care and respect throughout their travel journey, and we continuously look for opportunities to improve Customers’ travel experiences.” 

Town said she was frustrated with Southwest’s slow response and felt that she got the attention she did because of her high-profile advocacy role.  

“Disabled people fly on the airlines all the time and don’t get any response, don’t have any visibility into what’s happening,” she said. “You shouldn’t need to be a high-visibility person to get a response when an airline breaks your mobility device or something you rely on to go about your day.” 

Town said she received a $200 voucher from Southwest but said apology gestures aren’t sufficient. 

“It’s not about making me whole, it’s about improving the services and systems, so no disabled person needs to experience this again,” Town said. “This is likely to keep happening to me and to any other disabled person who flies. The choice that I have before me and that many disabled people have had to consider is: do I just not fly anymore?” 

How common is airline wheelchair damage? 

U.S. airlines actually showed significant improvement in 2025 compared with 2024 in terms of wheelchair damage rates, but there’s still work to be done. 

According to the Department of Transportation, the 10 largest U.S. airlines and their subsidiaries carried 907,259 wheelchairs and other mobility devices in 2025, and the DOT received 9,910 reports of mishandling – a rate of 1.09%. For comparison, carriers mishandled 1.26% of the mobility devices they transported in 2024. 

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at [email protected].