Disabled travellers at O R Tambo Internaitonal AIrport in Johannesburg

My Mom goes to Cape Town once a year and finds it difficult to walk through the airports. This year the service at O R Tambo was phenomenally good. It made it so easy and pleasant for her and her friend who travels with her and for me who took them to the airport.

I parked outside and went to the British Airways counter. They redirected me to the wheelchair depot just under the stairs at Domestic departures and immediately a young man jumped to attention and started wheeling a wheel chair to the car. My Mom got in and the travellers made their way to British Airways to check in. About 10 minutes later when I had parked and come to join them they were almost finished checking in. Only then was my Mom wheeled to the check point to fill in the documentation relating to the whel chair service.

A few minutes later it was time to go through security. What a surprise - there is a special section leading straight to the departure gates. No one else in the queue.

Well done O R Tambo. What a pleasure to receive good service like this. It is a combination of good design to have the extra security point and a well designed people friendly system.

This contrasts extremely favourably to our experience last year which was a nightmare with a 20 minute wait for a wheel chair and sullen staff who seemed to care little about the passengers.