{"id":12202,"date":"2019-04-26T12:20:27","date_gmt":"2019-04-26T16:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.atl.com\/?p=12202"},"modified":"2019-05-08T17:05:44","modified_gmt":"2019-05-08T21:05:44","slug":"wings-for-all-empowers-families-with-special-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wings-for-all-empowers-families-with-special-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Wings for All\u2019 empowers families with special needs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Captain Eric Ries, Georgia Sen. Greg Kirk and Airport General Manager John Selden welcome Wings for All participants at ATL. \u00a9 2019 Decisive Moment Events<\/p>\n

By Anika Robertson<\/b><\/p>\n

Senior Editor \/ Assistant Public Relations Manager<\/em><\/b><\/p>\n

ATL and Delta once again did their part to make it easier for special needs passengers to keep climbing.<\/p>\n

For the fourth year, ATL and Delta Air Lines hosted youths with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families for an \u2018airport rehearsal.\u2019 With a new program name and logo, \u201cWings for All\u201d acclimates children and their families to air travel.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cThis is an opportunity to come into the Airport, experience the sights and sounds, and give everyone the confidence to say, \u2018Yes, I can take that family vacation and fly somewhere,\u2019\u201d Airport General Manager John Selden told a packed room on Concourse E.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes travel better for people with disabilities makes travel better for everyone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

During the simulated flight, \u201cpassengers\u201d learned about the aircraft\u2019s features, safety protocols, and procedures. Ries shared his testimony as a father of a 12-year-old-son on the autism spectrum.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a parent first . . . before I\u2019m a pilot,\u201d the captain asserted, adding his son\u2019s challenges amplified tearful episodes and meltdowns.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cWe started on short flights and worked our way up.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s now flown with his son over 60 times, offering tips and advice for families.<\/p>\n

ATL Customer Experience Manager Carol Gaddis said understanding the Airport\u2019s customers is essential for successfully enhancing customer satisfaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work closely with our partners to make this a priority for our operation, inclusive of persons with disabilities as well as the aging population,\u201d the event organizer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cATL is customer-focused.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Captain Eric Ries, Georgia Sen. Greg Kirk and Airport General Manager John Selden welcome Wings for All participants at ATL. \u00a9 2019 Decisive Moment Events By Anika Robertson Senior Editor \/ Assistant Public Relations Manager ATL and Delta once again did their part to make it easier for special needs passengers to keep climbing. For […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":12197,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,46,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atlstories","category-employees","category-events"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12202"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12277,"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12202\/revisions\/12277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.atl.com\/atl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}