American Airlines broke my wheelchair. Is $200 enough compensation?

Kao Spencer flew from Philadelphia to Portland, Maine, on American Airlines earlier this month. She checked her $7,000 custom wheelchair, trusting the carrier to handle it with care.

It didn’t.

When she landed, she found the wheels had been damaged. A cargo handler admitted he had stored the chair on its side despite her instructions, and he failed to take a required photo of the loading process.

The snow tires were broken, the frame was compromised and the wheel no longer locked into the axle.

Now, Spencer is stranded on her campus in Bangor. Maine’s winter has arrived, burying the ground in snow. Without her heavy-duty tires, Spencer, a college student, feels stuck.

“American has further disabled me by breaking my brand-new $7,000 custom wheelchair,” Spencer told me. 

American Airlines agreed to pay for repairs—eventually. But for the weeks of lost mobility, the missed appointments and the sheer frustration of being grounded, the airline made a compensation offer: a mere $200 in travel credit.

Today, we’re bringing back one of our most popular features: Is this enough compensation? 

Spencer’s case raises difficult questions about the value of mobility and the responsibility of airlines.

Kao Spencer’s damaged wheelchair.

Here’s the offer from American Airlines

Spencer spent four hours at the airport filing her claim after she landed in Maine. The process was a bureaucratic relay race. She contacted American, which referred her to Global Repair Group (GRG), a subcontractor, for the fix. GRG correctly noted it only handles repairs, not compensation.

So she filed a formal complaint with the airline. American’s customer relations department sent a letter apologizing for the “alleged regulatory violation.” It reiterated that it would cover the repairs and provide a loaner chair.

In recognition of her difficulty, the airline offered her a $200 flight credit. Spencer notes her ticket cost $400 and values her claim for loss of use and suffering at $2,000.

Was this enough compensation?

Here’s what we need your help deciding.

Yes, it was enough compensation: Under the Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations and the airline’s contract of carriage, a carrier’s primary liability is to repair or replace a damaged assistive device up to the original purchase price.

Technically, American Airlines is fulfilling this obligation. It has authorized Global Repair Group to fix the chair. It is providing a loaner chair to ensure Spencer has mobility while parts are on order. (Related: Air Canada canceled her flight and promised to cover her hotel. Then it didn’t.)

From a regulatory standpoint, the airline has met the requirements. The law does not strictly mandate compensation for “pain and suffering” or “loss of enjoyment of life” in these administrative settlements. 

The $200 credit is classified as a goodwill gesture—an optional perk provided over and above the legal minimum.

American acknowledged its error immediately. It admitted the handler failed to follow procedure regarding the photo and storage orientation. By covering the full cost of repairs and offering a credit worth 50 percent of her ticket value, American is arguably adhering to the industry standard for property damage claims where no bodily injury occurred.

No, it was not enough compensation: While American may be following the letter of the law, the compensation fails to account for the functional reality of the damage.

A wheelchair is not luggage. It’s an extension of the passenger’s body. When American broke Spencer’s snow tires, it effectively made Spencer housebound. The loaner chair provided is a standard model, which Spencer argues is useless in the Maine snow.

“The added cost of delivery fees for my groceries because I can’t leave campus to get them myself is already eating at me,” Spencer wrote in her email to the airline.

The damage was also the result of admitted negligence—storing the chair on its side and failing to document it—rather than an unavoidable accident. A $200 voucher, which requires the customer to spend more money with the airline to use, does not address the immediate financial burden of delivery fees and lost independence.

Spencer argues that being stranded for months warrants restitution that reflects the severity of the disruption, not just a token credit.

Did American Airlines offer enough compensation?

This is a surprisingly difficult case. On paper, American is following the rules. It’s fixing the chair and offering a token apology.

But in reality, a student is stuck in her dorm room in the middle of a Maine winter because an airline employee ignored her instructions.

There was a moment when it looked like the government was going to force airlines to do better. The Biden administration had finalized a rule, Ensuring Safe Accommodations for Air Travelers with Disabilities Using Wheelchairs, which would have made mishandling a wheelchair an automatic violation of the Air Carrier Access Act. It would have also simplified the process for passengers like Spencer to hold airlines accountable.

But the Department of Transportation under the new administration has paused enforcement of key provisions of that rule, citing pending litigation and a need for review. That leaves travelers like Spencer in a regulatory limbo, relying on existing protections—and advocates like us..