airline wants to know ins and outs

[bednobs]

Hi, i am flying with virgin in september to florida to see my sister (Yay!) My parents and grandma are also going. To keep things easy, my dad is in charge of all the bookings and whatnot.
Anyway, today he went to the travel agents to book "special assisstance" at the airport for me and my nan (her because she's crumbly; me because i'm also crumbly)
Anyway the travel agent asked my dad what my illness was and the woman on the other end, at virgin heard him tell the TA that i have rheumatoid arthritis. The woman at virgin then stopped everything and said i had to ring them to discuss all of my medication.
would anyone have any idea why? what would happen if i didnt ring them, or didnt want to discuss my medication? why do they NEED to know about it i wonder?
Has this happened to anyone else?
i cant ring them till monday and am just intriged

[loonytunes]

If Virgin have arranged the holiday insurance as part of the deal, they will be interested as existing medical conditions will not be covered. They will also be interested in knowing if a false declaration has been made on the application form.

[bednobs]

nothing to do with insurance - coz i have a pre-existing condition, i always get my own, and never take theirs as it never applies to me anyway

[Dee Sa]

You should co-operate with them, they are trying to be helpful, not nosey, you see they have about 12 bulkhead seats just behind business class, where you have much more room and bigger seats/space than economy [ you also get business class food] and anyone with medical problems gets allocated those seats and then the business class trained staff can keep an eye on them during the flight.,they wont be there alone, at least 1 family member will be allocated too and if there arent any other "special needs" people travelling that day you might get lucky and the whole family get allocated.
Make friends with the special needs team when you phone , they are your link,and always phone them a few days before departure to confirm everything.Virgin are extremely helpful, pls dont be suspicious and accept their help.
I travel to Las Vegas on Virgin with a Downs syndrome lady an so far [4 trips] they have allocated our party of 3 to stay together in bulkhead seats, my husband is blind and we also get similar seating when we travel, they just have to be certain that you are a genuine case and not "putting it on" to take advantage of their care. truly I cant fault them.
Another airline might just let you get on with it !.
happy holiday.

[tigwig]

Hi bednobs just a word of advice, on your return flight do not check in at Orlando airport. Use the early check in services at Downtown Disney. The staff at the airport are absolute morons and it will take hours to check in their. Don't know if I was just unlucky but earlier this year we chose not to use the facility at Disney and go to the airport 3 and a half hours before the flight departed. We were stood in a queue with 2 young children for 3 hours before we got to the desk with no drinks or anything. It was a complete nightmare and staff made the line into 3 different ones and just let other passengers go in front everytime. Hopefully if you are going to get 'special treatment' you might not have to queue anyway bit its worth warning you and others!

[Dee Sa]

forgot to say, when arriving for check in in the UK, just say the magic words "special needs" to someone from the Virgin team and you will either go to the front of the check in queue or be directed to the Upper Class check in and they will speedily do your check in and if someone needs a wheelchair [ pre booked obviously] it will appear like magic.