SENIOR TRAVELER, DOLLAR RENT A CAR ANGEL, AND BOOMERPDX

Senior traveler gets an assist from Dollar Rent A Car agent.

If you’re a senior citizen, or traveled with seniors, you know how it works.

Caution is the word of the day.

Air travel makes your feet swell. Maybe your entire leg.

The airplane bathroom seems like a mile away.

Lifting carry on bags into the overhead compartments is a Herculean effort.

If Phoenix AZ is your destination be ready for the rental car shuttle.

Rookies with a senior traveler need to learn fast. This is the big leagues and you don’t want to screw up.

If your senior loses their balance and falls, the trip is over, at least that part. Instead of going where you planned, you’re going to the nearest Emergency Room.

Help too much and you become a hindrance; help too little and you end up a spectator in that ER.

In other words it’s a fine balance.

Let’s say your senior has difficulty walking. They can walk, but it hurts.

Reserve a wheelchair at your departure airport and your arrival airport.

American Airlines gets it right.

They have people waiting with wheelchairs at check-in and past security.

The kindness American Airlines has shown is consistent. Call it admirable.

Having traveled lots with my wife and near-90 year old Mother In Law, you can feel the difference between those with a job to do, and those who love seniors.

If you don’t love seniors, especially feisty seniors, keep reading and learn how.

Travel fear is a real thing. With seniors it’s compounded.

The plane failing is one thing, you failing is another. Your fail punishes one person, the one that matters most.

You can be dropped off at Portland International Airport, PDX, and find the wheelchair with staff person waiting.

Phoenix is where it gets tough. You get off the plane and the American Airlines guy is waiting with the chair in the ramp.

Getting a rental car means boarding the shuttle. The rental place is a few miles away. These are big steps. And don’t forget the bags.

To make it more fun you’re surrounded by a jostling crowd anxious to get to their car.

None of it adds up to fun and thrills for an advanced senior. My standing goal each time is getting my two people on the shuttle first, then the bags. Not every fellow passenger enjoys my goal.

Eventually human decency arrives and the shuttle folks recognize my situation, which isn’t to say anyone helps this poor blogger out. If they did they’d be featured on BoomerPdx.

So we got the car, got our Phoenix business done, and headed back to the Dollar Rent A Car return lot a few days later.

We pulled up and did the car check in with the boss man on the floor.

Another man asked if we needed a wheelchair.

Reserving on at Dollar Rent A Car didn’t occur to me.

I was happy thinking someone else remembered.

“Yes. We do need a wheelchair. My Mother In Law is almost 90 and likes a little help now and then.”

“I see,” he said.

But he didn’t make a move while the other man finished the check in.

“Go ahead and leave your bags in the car,” the second man said. “I will drive you to the airport.”

The words he said could have been said in Russian for all I knew, and I don’t speak Russian.

I. Will. Drive. You. To. The. Airport. Huh?

What did he say? Leave the bags in the trunk and he’ll drive us to the airport? I’ve never heard those words at a car rental place, but I did at Dollar Rent A Car.

My wife called over, “We need a cart for the bags.”

“This man said he’ll drive us to the airport, so leave the bags in the car.”

She didn’t understand the words either.

“The luggage carts are over there,” she said.

“I will drive you to the airport, so you can leave the bags in the car,” the Dollar man said.

“You will drive us to the airport?” she asked.

“Yes, I will drive you to the airport and drop you off. Which airline?”

“American.”

“Perfect,” he said.

In our stunned state, that’s just what happened.

On the way to Sky Harbor I asked how long he’s lived in Phoenix.

“About ten years.”

Did he adapt to the heat from where he lived before?

“I am from Iraq. Much hotter there.”

From Iraq? A Dollar Rent A Car angel from Iraq?

“Were you an interpreter for the American?” I asked.

“Yes, I was.”

He looked a little surprised at my guess.

“I’m glad you got out.”

“Yes, it was time for me to go.”

I flashed back on the last people leaving Vietnam from the American Embassy rooftop in Saigon.

“You’ve done a wonderful thing here,” I said.

“It is part of my job. I like helping old people.”

“Wait. Now you’re calling me old?” I laughed.

We both laughed.

His offer to drop two baby boomers and one Greatest Generation traveler at the airport curb was a huge surprise.

It was already over 90 degrees with an itchy heat rash creeping up my neck and this guy just made it the coolest day of the week.

If he’s not the standard for all Dollar Rent A Car employees, he ought to be.

Has this ever happened to you? Leave a comment and tell the story.