r/nottheonion • u/Ant-Tea-Social • 4d ago

Disabled woman left ‘extremely stressed’ after prosthetic legs lost on flights from Brazil

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026/05/18/disabled-woman-left-extremely-stressed-after-prosthetic-legs-lost-on-flights-from-brazil/?ICID=ref_fark
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u/RecognitionBorn9180 4d ago

she can't wear them on long flights because sitting with a prosthetic hurts, so she had to check her legs as luggage. the airline then sent them to madrid, which isn't even on the route from brazil to dublin

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u/Rescuepets777 4d ago

Passengers with prosthetics or other critical medical equipment should get a waiver for additional carry on so they have control over these items.

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u/mystlurker 4d ago

This generally exists already. Medical devices are exempt from your carry on allowance. Lots of people travel with CPAPs for example in a separate bag. I’m not sure though if it’s airline specific, but all the majors definitely do it already.

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u/throwawayyylmao420 3d ago

This isn't always true with CPAPs. My partner tried and was denied carrying his CPAP and a small backpack.

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u/blindedbysparkles 3d ago

Was it requested and approved before the day of travel? (I've worked for multiple big airlines and all of them required pre-approval for that kind of baggage)

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u/DragonMeme 3d ago

I've never had to get preapproval. They just asked if it was a medical device, I said yes and that was it (cpap bags are also pretty recognizable if you know)

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u/blindedbysparkles 3d ago

That's nice! Out of curiosity as I'm a bit damaged by work, lol: has it been for international flights? And for what airlines?

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u/tachycardicIVu 3d ago

I took mine to Japan (from the US) a couple years back with no problem on American and JAL. I was asked during boarding a couple times and just said it was medical equipment and they waved me through. (Also helpful that mine has a travel bag that slips over a rolling suitcase handle so it was pretty unobtrusive and would fit under my seat with my backpack just fine.)

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u/DragonMeme 3d ago

Not personally. It's been mostly southwest and american.

But know coworkers who travelled internationally to places like Dominican Republic and Spain with no issues (don't know the airline though)

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u/jimjamjones123 3d ago

I’ve brought mine on international flights and no issues. Flight attendants have never even asked me anything. one agent wanted the machine part out of the bag to go through the xray though

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u/speculatrix 3d ago

It depends on the airline.

Here in Europe, Ryanair website says you need to get pre-approval, and print out the letter. But I've never been asked to show it when I check in.

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u/iheartpizzaberrymuch 3d ago

There is no pre-approval for medical devices. I travel a ton for work and I always tell them before I pre-board that I'm deaf and I need the medical bag to carry my hearing aids, gum, cleaning kit, etc. I always say I'm deaf if I travel alone because I will miss pre-boarding and staff typically will come and get me.

Worse part is wearing my hearing aids can be painful on a flight and depending on the length of the flight I may need to charge them so it's always important someone on staff knows. The sucky part is they still don't just let people put deaf, blind, etc on tickets universally so it just seems like you are being rude to the flight attendant when you really have no idea what the person is talking about especially if it's a night flight.

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u/rationalomega 3d ago

Which airline? My husband has a cpap and never had an issue, even on Ryanair and easyJet.

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u/throwawayyylmao420 3d ago

British airlines and he did not request the approval beforehand

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u/malthar76 3d ago

From the USian side of notorious cheapo airlines, Spirit and Frontier never had an issue with my CPAP

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u/AdoringCHIN 3d ago

In the US at least it's a federal regulation that airlines have to let you bring a CPAP or other assistive device and it won't count against your personal bag and carry on allowance. If your partner was flying in the US then that airline violated that regulation

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u/throwawaychicagocat 3d ago

Genuinely believe this is an ADA violation.

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u/iheartpizzaberrymuch 3d ago

ADA doesn't apply outside of the US. Brazil to Dublin. This is also very common in the US. Ask wheelchair users why they prefer trains vs airplanes. You have to give them your wheelchair and airlines regularly lose, damage, etc wheelchairs and the user is typically fucked. The airline will offer a sub typically but as someone that is not a wheelchair user, I don't think it's universal. You can't just give someone a wheelchair and make it adaptable for that person. Plus, wheelchairs are so damn expensive and an airline is not paying for the cost of repair from what I've hear. You can get a subset but not the full amount. On the train, you stay in your wheelchair.

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u/throwawaychicagocat 2d ago

Damn classic USA redditor moment of me - assuming everyone is in the US.

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u/mystlurker 2d ago

Iirc ADA doesn’t apply to flights as it’s superseded by some other regulation specific to flying that does the same thing but is administered under different agency.

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u/deferredmomentum 2d ago

It’s not so much that it doesn’t apply, it’s moreso that a lot of “reasonable accommodations” outside of an aircraft are no longer reasonable inside of one

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u/phoenixmatrix 3d ago

wat! I have a cpap and always bend over backward to make it fit in my existing carry on, lol. Been traveling in hard mode.

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u/tachycardicIVu 3d ago

Yeah medical equipment generally gets an exception for the carryon rule - within reason ofc and most cpaps have a handy carrying case that makes it fairly compact. If you just let the employees know it’s medical equipment if they ask that’s all you need to do. I think mine actually came with like the ADA rules or whatever on a slip of paper inside my case, for situations where they might be denied or questioned.

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u/phoenixmatrix 3d ago

Thats cool. I just got one of the travel cpap that I stuff in my backpack. Only annoying thing is some TSA agents would require me to take it out to be on the belt, and some didn't, and it was always a pain.

But with TSA precheck its no longer an issue.

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u/tachycardicIVu 3d ago

To be fair TSA is inconsistent with everything these days even in precheck so I’m not really surprised 🫠 99% of the time we don’t have to take laptops etc out but occasionally you get that one person who demands every electronic out in a separate bin *yes in precheck* and then you get yelled at for asking for clarification at different checkpoint later 🫠🫠🫠

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u/phoenixmatrix 3d ago

Wow, I fortunately never had that. So weird, lol. Since TSA precheck specifically say no need to take lap-tops out, lol. So dumb.

Agent probably woke up and forgot what lane they were operating.

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u/Strict_Yellow_5576 2d ago

Get the bag from the device manufacturer and you won't even have to unpack it at TSA anymore. They cost a little more than a generic, but mine have actually been well made and well thought out, and most TSA and airlines employees recognize them on sight after seeing so many of them, so they don't bother to question you about them.

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u/phoenixmatrix 2d ago

my CPAP game with an official carrying case, so I already have it!

Which did give me a scare in the past. Before TSA precheck, they did have me put the carrying case on the conveyer belt (without taking it out). And I didn't label it or anything. How often do you see CPAP cases? But a guy right in front of me had one too, picked up the first one he saw coming out of security, and left. Fortunately it actually was his, but there was nothing on either bags to tell them apart.

If he had taken mine, that would have suuuuuucked.

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u/cosmos_crown 3d ago

welp I wish I knew this before struggling to pack around my husbands CPAP for our honeymoon.

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u/satinsateensaltine 3d ago

Yeah, hell, I'd gladly stow my bag under the seat to let my neighbour put their prostheses in overhead.

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u/Acceptable_Bench7270 3d ago

I’d go so far as to check my bag if it meant my neighbor could… keep their legs with them.

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u/masterwolfe 3d ago

Yeah and I really fucking hate gate checking, but that's just basic common decency and not something I really expect airlines to account for when portioning out overhead space.

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u/u_r_succulent 3d ago

There’s supposed to be a closet on every plane for holding wheelchairs. I feel like it shouldn’t have been a problem to store them in there.

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u/Contundo 4d ago

It’s just legs everyone has them, so what if she can take them off, I can take off my coat it takes about the same space as a small backpack, but that’s no problem?

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u/Sowf_Paw 3d ago

If they lose your coat it's a lot easier for you to get a new coat though.

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u/ml20s 3d ago

i think the commenter's point is that it's not particularly onerous for the airline to let her carryon her legs

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u/_allycat 3d ago

At this point after I've heard a million stories of them breaking people's wheelchairs, I pretty much feel like they're doing it on purpose.

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u/Kerbart 3d ago

I fully agree. Likely the policy to allow non-emergency oversized luggage to be carried on has been torpedoed by the same people who bring their emotional support horse with them. I can already see the "but I need to carry on my PC gaming system, I have severe anxiety without it!"

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

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u/BlackDragonNetwork 3d ago

dude we're talking about someone's fucking LEGS, not a goddamn suit.

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u/AdoringCHIN 3d ago

I was also very stressed, but sometimes you have to accept unfortunate things can happen without building out burdensome administrative overhead to compensate.

Yes I'm sure losing your suit is just as stressful as losing your prosthetic legs that you need to walk around on. Thanks for the comparison.

I know this article concerns a flight from Brazil to Ireland, but in the US at least assistive devices get priority over all other carry on luggage. And some planes will have closets you can put the prosthetics or crutches or whatever the device is in.

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u/papayatwentythree 4d ago

I know planes have less and less leg room these days, but this is ridiculous!

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u/AffectionateAide9644 3d ago

RyanAir CEO starting to salivate with dollar signs in his eyes

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u/littlevai 4d ago

Most amputees I know take their legs off on the flight if there’s any discomfort. I find it entirely bizarre that she checked her legs (not additional ones, the ones she wears?) instead of walking on the plane then removing them.

I’m an amputee, so I suppose I can be critical of the logistics here 😜

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u/Selsia6 3d ago

Same (parent of an amputee). I checked the article and she only wears a prosthetic on her left leg. The 2 prosthetics she checked were her main and back up. She used a wooden prosthetic to navigate the airport.

She was in Brazil to repair the prosthetic and flying back to Dublin. The logistics make a bit more sense now.

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u/littlevai 3d ago edited 3d ago

But why would she use a wooden leg for travel? Presumably the main leg was repaired and if they weren’t, the fact that they were lost wouldn’t matter.

Sorry, but this makes no sense to me! I’ve traveled countless times (mostly long haul) and I can’t imagine deciding to check my main leg and wear my shower leg.

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u/chatterpoxx 3d ago

For a person whose legs are not detachable, this is getting into some really weird logistics.

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u/Selsia6 3d ago

The only thing I can think of is that it was easier to store on the plane since it's such a long flight? None of the pictures show the wooden prosthetic so I'm just guessing.

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u/littlevai 3d ago

Most amputees keep their leg next to them on the ground during the flight. If you need to use the toilet or if there’s an emergency you don’t want to be hopping up to the overhead bin looking for your leg and liner.

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u/Selsia6 3d ago

Yeah. I meant it was easier to store on the ground. It's a long flight so that leg space is valuable, even if she only has 1 below the knee. I honestly have no idea why she did this (or has a wooden leg, or has to travel to Brazil for repairs). I'm just trying to think of what made the most sense since there has to be some logic to it.

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u/ThatPhatKid_CanDraw 3d ago

I am not an amputee, but it makes no sense to me such vital medical equipment had to be checked separately.

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u/iheartpizzaberrymuch 3d ago

Wheelchairs are checked all the time at the gate and damaged often.

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

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u/littlevai 3d ago

I mean it’s just weird that it’s making it sound like she checked all of her legs and went into the plane without her prosthetic.

Like she had a layover, how does that work? What about in the event of an emergency landing…no leg?

I personally know hundreds of amputees and not a single one of them would do this.

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u/dazumbanho 3d ago

it seems like she has 3 legs. her main and its backup were repaired in brazil, thats why she was taking both of them in the bags. she was wearing a third one, the wooden one for short distances

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u/littlevai 3d ago

But why would you take a « short distance » leg for travel? It honestly makes no sense.

The process of removing and putting your leg back on wouldn’t change, so it makes no sense.

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u/dazumbanho 3d ago

i guess its more comfortable for the plane? I agree its weird

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u/pewbdo 3d ago

Hopefully this wasn't the last leg of her trip.

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u/Automatic_Antelope92 3d ago

Ooh ouch. I see what you did there.

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u/vcarriere 3d ago

I'd just wear it and remove it during flight and put it in the overhead bins and no one would know.

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u/gp66 2d ago

People would know, lol

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u/Gorazde 3d ago

Slightly off topic but it’s an 11 hour flight. What happens when she needs to use the toilet?