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Garuda Indonesia
Powered wheelchairs accepted · carried free · 48 h notice · 300 Wh installed-battery cap.
- Advance notice
- 48hours before departure
- Powered wheelchair
- Yes
- Lithium, battery installed
- 300watt-hours maximum
- Cost to carry
- Free
Who to contact
Transcribed from the airline’s own pages, exactly as it labels them.
- PhoneIndonesia — Garuda Indonesia Call CenterWithin Indonesia only
- PhoneInternational — Garuda Indonesia Call Center
- PhoneGaruda Sentra Medika (GSM) medical clearance / MEDIF — working hoursWorking hours; ask for extension 6136
- PhoneGaruda Sentra Medika (GSM) — outside working hours, holidays & weekendsOutside working hours, holidays and weekends
- EmailGaruda Sentra Medika (GSM) travel clinic — MEDIF / medical clearance
- EmailCustomer service — "Garuda Indonesia Other Service" (the channel the live Contact Us page directs passengers to while the web contact form is out of service)
- EmailBaggage handling service (use for a damaged or delayed mobility aid)
- Relay / text+62 811 2807 807, printed on the live Contact Us page (29 July 2026) alongside the Call Center numbers.WhatsApp Service Garuda Indonesia
Garuda publishes no dedicated disability telephone line or e-mail — wheelchair requests go to the Call Center or a local reservations office; the only named specialist channel is Garuda Sentra Medika (GSM), the airline's own medical clinic, which handles MEDIF/medical clearance (fax +62 21 424 5809). Every number, address and page above was re-read from the LIVE garuda-indonesia.com site on 29 July 2026, including the GSM numbers and travelclinic.gsm@ address on the live Special Needs page. The live Contact Us page warns that the website's own Contact Us form is out of service and that enquiries should go by e-mail instead (e-booking@, baggage@, garudamiles@, customer@garuda-indonesia.com).
Read it from the source
- Special Needs (Medical Conditions) — wheelchairs, mobility devices and electric wheelchairs, incl. the 300 Wh / 160 Wh lithium rules (opens in a new tab)
- Baggage Information — free carry-on items, dangerous goods and lithium batteries (opens in a new tab)
- Baggage Policy (Piece Concept, effective 1 September 2026) — "Wheelchairs & Mobility Aids" section: 30 kg now, 1 × 32 kg from 1 Sep 2026, carried outside the free baggage allowance (opens in a new tab)
Powered wheelchairs & batteries
The part that goes wrong. Battery chemistry and watt-hours decide whether your chair flies, and the rules differ depending on whether the battery can be removed.
"Wheelchairs, mobility aids and assistive devices that are powered by lithium batteries and required for use by passengers will be allowed on board as checked-in baggage", with 48 h advance notice to Reservations and notification of check-in staff.
Special Needs (Medical Conditions) — Wheelchairs and Mobility Devices / Electric Wheelchair (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Lithium-battery-powered wheelchairs, mobility aids and assistive devices "will be allowed on board as checked-in baggage" subject to the watt-hour and short-circuit conditions below.
Special Needs (Medical Conditions) — Wheelchairs and Mobility Devices / Electric Wheelchair (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Garuda's "general requirements" are stated once, above the split into removable and non-removable designs: "The power rating of the lithium battery must not exceed 300Wh or for a device that is fitted with two (02) batteries required for operation, the power rating of each lithium battery must not exceed 160Wh." A battery that cannot be removed must additionally be insulated, securely attached and its circuits inhibited. Read from the live page 29 July 2026.
Special Needs (Medical Conditions) — Wheelchairs and Mobility Devices / Electric Wheelchair (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Garuda publishes no separate cap for a battery taken out of the chair; the same general requirement governs — "The power rating of the lithium battery must not exceed 300Wh or for a device that is fitted with two (02) batteries required for operation, the power rating of each lithium battery must not exceed 160Wh" — and a removable battery "must be carried in the passenger cabin". Read from the live page 29 July 2026.
Special Needs (Medical Conditions) — Wheelchairs and Mobility Devices / Electric Wheelchair (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
"A maximum of one (01) spare lithium battery not exceeding 300Wh or two (02) spares each not exceeding 160Wh may be carried in the passenger cabin of the aircraft. The spare batteries are not allowed as checked-in baggage." Read from the live page 29 July 2026.
Special Needs (Medical Conditions) — Wheelchairs and Mobility Devices / Electric Wheelchair (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Maximum count under the mobility-aid rule: one spare of up to 300 Wh OR two spares of up to 160 Wh each, cabin only — "The spare batteries are not allowed as checked-in baggage." (The separate two-spares-per-passenger limits in Garuda's general lithium-battery table are written for portable electronic devices and were not imported.) Read from the live page 29 July 2026.
Special Needs (Medical Conditions) — Wheelchairs and Mobility Devices / Electric Wheelchair (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Required where the design allows it: for "battery(ies) that can be removed from the wheelchair, mobility aid or assistive device … the battery(ies) must be carried in the passenger cabin". A non-removable battery stays with the chair provided it is insulated, securely attached and its electrical circuits inhibited.
Special Needs (Medical Conditions) — Wheelchairs and Mobility Devices / Electric Wheelchair (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not published for mobility aids. (The baggage page's "nonspillable wet batteries (absorbed electrolyte)… 12 volts and 100 watt hours per battery" row is written for portable electronic devices, not wheelchairs, and was not imported.)
Garuda's special-needs page covers only lithium-battery mobility aids; it publishes nothing about spillable wet-cell wheelchair batteries.
"The battery(ies) must be protected from short circuit by insulating the terminals (e.g. by taping over exposed terminals); the battery(ies) is securely attached to the wheelchair, mobility aid or assistive device; electrical circuits have been inhibited to prevent accidental activation."
Special Needs (Medical Conditions) — Wheelchairs and Mobility Devices / Electric Wheelchair (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Garuda does not require a battery spec sheet, MSDS or form for a mobility aid on its published page.
No maximum powered-wheelchair size published; Garuda says only that a device whose "weight or dimensions … exceed the applicable checked baggage limits" is handled as cargo.
Same cap as a manual chair — Garuda's 2026 Baggage Policy page does not distinguish manual from powered. In force on 29 July 2026: "Maximum 30 kg as checked baggage. Any device exceeding this limit would be handled as cargo"; from 1 September 2026 (by ticket issue date) "Heavy Bag up to 1 × 32 kg as checked baggage".
Baggage Policy — the Piece Concept effective 1 September 2026, including the "Wheelchairs & Mobility Aids" section (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not published.
Small lithium-battery-powered vehicles (airwheel, solowheel, hoverboard, mini-segway, balance wheel) are "strictly prohibited" as either carry-on or checked baggage on all Garuda flights. Spare wheelchair batteries may never go in the hold.
Manual wheelchairs
"Incapacitated passengers or other passengers needing mobility assistance may bring wheelchair (both manual or electric) or mobility aids (canes, crutches, walkers, etc.)" — carried free, stowed in the hold and "treated as fragile baggage".
Special Needs (Medical Conditions) — Wheelchairs and Mobility Devices / Electric Wheelchair (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
"Passengers will not be allowed to bring their own wheelchair or mobility aids inside aircraft cabin due to limited space. Wheelchair or mobility aids will be stowed in baggage/hold compartment." CONTRADICTION, still live 29 July 2026: the baggage pages list "a fully collapsible wheelchair or pair of crutches" and a "Foldable wheelchair, walking aid, crutches" among free carry-on items. Garuda does not reconcile them; false is recorded on the wheelchair-specific page.
Special Needs (Medical Conditions) — Wheelchairs and Mobility Devices / Electric Wheelchair (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29 Baggage Information — free carry-on items, dangerous goods, lithium battery guidelines, call centre (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29 Baggage Policy — the Piece Concept effective 1 September 2026, including the "Wheelchairs & Mobility Aids" section (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not applicable / not published — Garuda's special-needs page says a personal wheelchair may not be taken into the cabin at all.
No maximum wheelchair size published. Garuda says only that "if the weight or dimensions of the device exceed the applicable checked baggage limits, the device will be handled as cargo", without giving a dimension figure.
Garuda's 2026 Baggage Policy page publishes a weight cap for a mobility aid carried as checked baggage. In force on 29 July 2026 ("Previous Policy" column): "Maximum 30 kg as checked baggage. Any device exceeding this limit would be handled as cargo." For tickets issued on or after 1 September 2026 it becomes "Heavy Bag up to 1 × 32 kg as checked baggage", still with "Any device exceeding this limit would be handled as cargo." Over the limit the chair is not refused — it moves to cargo.
Baggage Policy — the Piece Concept effective 1 September 2026, including the "Wheelchairs & Mobility Aids" section (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Garuda does not say where a personal wheelchair is returned; its own airport wheelchair service runs from check-in to the boarding gate and into the cabin.
Three service codes are published: WCHR (terminal and ramp, 24 h advance notification), WCHC (gate to cabin seat, narrow armless aisle chair) and WCOB (on-board chair, wide-body only).
Booking & cost
Strictest published deadline: for an electric wheelchair or mobility aid, "passengers are requested to inform our Reservations department 48 hours in advance and also alert our check-in staff at the airport" — repeated as "advance notification to our local reservations office at least 48 hours before scheduled departure". Airport wheelchair service (WCHR) needs 24 h.
Special Needs (Medical Conditions) — Wheelchairs and Mobility Devices / Electric Wheelchair (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Medical clearance (MEDIF via Garuda Sentra Medika) is explicitly NOT required for "disability passengers/person with disability" or for "elderly passengers who may request the use of a wheelchair because of their age or because they are unable to walk". Notice rules re-read from the live Special Needs page on 29 July 2026; the two Call Center numbers appear on that page and on the live Contact Us page, which also gives WhatsApp +62 811 2807 807.
Special Needs (Medical Conditions) — Wheelchairs and Mobility Devices / Electric Wheelchair (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29 Baggage Information — free carry-on items, dangerous goods, lithium battery guidelines, call centre (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29 Contact Us — Call Center numbers, WhatsApp service and service e-mail addresses (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
"Carriage of wheelchair/mobility aids is free of charge up to 1 (one) wheelchair/mobility aids per passenger, regardless it is manual or electric." The 2026 Baggage Policy page repeats that mobility aids "are not counted as part of the passenger's Free Baggage Allowance". A device over the published weight limit is not free: it "would be handled as cargo".
Special Needs (Medical Conditions) — Wheelchairs and Mobility Devices / Electric Wheelchair (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29 Baggage Policy — the Piece Concept effective 1 September 2026, including the "Wheelchairs & Mobility Aids" section (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
One wheelchair or mobility aid per passenger is free. "If a passenger brings more than one wheelchair, it will be included into applicable free baggage allowance (FBA). In case it exceeds the allowance, the excess baggage rule applies." The 2026 Baggage Policy page states the same one-piece entitlement ("Heavy Bag up to 1 × 32 kg as checked baggage") but carries it outside the FBA from 1 September 2026.
Special Needs (Medical Conditions) — Wheelchairs and Mobility Devices / Electric Wheelchair (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29 Baggage Policy — the Piece Concept effective 1 September 2026, including the "Wheelchairs & Mobility Aids" section (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Garuda publishes no mobility-aid damage-liability rule; it says only that a wheelchair or mobility aid "will be treated as fragile baggage".
On board
Wheelchair on Board (WCOB) is "available on wide body aircraft only (Boeing 777-300 ER and Airbus A330)", one unit per aircraft, and is "not available on narrow body aircraft (e.g. Boeing 737 series aircraft)" — so most of Garuda's domestic and regional network has no on-board aisle chair.
Special Needs (Medical Conditions) — Wheelchairs and Mobility Devices / Electric Wheelchair (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not published.
Garuda provides wheelchair service "to move around terminal building (normally from check-in counter to the boarding gate) and access to the aircraft cabin from the gate", and the WCHC chair is "used to move the passenger from the gate to his/her seat inside the aircraft cabin".
Special Needs (Medical Conditions) — Wheelchairs and Mobility Devices / Electric Wheelchair (live page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
No movable-armrest or bulkhead seating policy published.
Fleet detail. On-board wheelchair (WCOB) is carried only on wide-body aircraft — Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus A330, one unit each. Narrow-body Boeing 737s have none.
Worth knowing
LIVE-VERIFIED 29 July 2026. Every wheelchair and battery fact above was re-read from garuda-indonesia.com itself, not from an archive. How: the policy pages render their body in an IFRAME at https://www.garuda-indonesia.com/static/en/…/index.html, which Cloudflare 403s to ordinary clients and to the reader proxy — but serves 200 to a crawler user-agent (robots.txt is "Allow: /"). The live Special Needs body and the live Baggage Information body were both retrieved that way and are word-for-word identical to the 22 May 2024 Internet Archive captures on every wheelchair, WCHR/WCHC/WCOB and lithium sentence, so the 300 Wh / 160 Wh figures, the one-spare-300 Wh-or-two-spares-160 Wh rule, the 48 h / 24 h notice deadlines, free carriage of one aid and the wide-body-only WCOB list are current, not stale. Two caveats a reader should know: (a) those two page bodies are served from a static HTTrack mirror whose banner reads "Mirrored … Thu, 20 Jun 2024", so Garuda's own published text has not been edited since June 2024 — it is current because Garuda still publishes it, not because it was recently revised; (b) Garuda's live navigation API (contents.garuda-indonesia.com/magnoliaPublic/.rest/delivery/navbar-journey) still points "Medical Conditions" and "Baggage" at these same two URLs, so nothing has moved. NEW POLICY FOUND: https://www.garuda-indonesia.com/id/en/new-baggage-policy ("Baggage Policy" — the Piece Concept, applying to tickets purchased or issued on or after 1 September 2026) is readable and carries a "Wheelchairs & Mobility Aids" section that Garuda had not published before. It gives the first weight limit the airline has ever put on a mobility aid: 30 kg as checked baggage now, "Heavy Bag up to 1 × 32 kg" from 1 September 2026, anything heavier "handled as cargo" — recorded in manual/electric.max_weight_kg. It also confirms free carriage ("not counted as part of the passenger's Free Baggage Allowance"). It says nothing about batteries, notice periods or damage liability. CONTRADICTION (unchanged and now confirmed live): the Special Needs page bans a personal wheelchair from the cabin outright, while both the Baggage Information page and the 2026 Baggage Policy page list a fully collapsible / foldable wheelchair as a free carry-on personal item. Garuda does not reconcile them. Garuda publishes nothing about spillable or non-spillable (gel/AGM) wheelchair batteries — only lithium; the "nonspillable wet batteries … 12 volts and 100 watt hours" row on the baggage page is explicitly "for portable electronic devices" and was deliberately not imported as a mobility-aid rule.
Sources
Every figure above traces to one of these.
- s1 Special Needs (Medical Conditions) — Wheelchairs and Mobility Devices / Electric Wheelchair (live page) (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
- s2 Baggage Information — free carry-on items, dangerous goods, lithium battery guidelines, call centre (live page) (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
- s3 Contact Us — Call Center numbers, WhatsApp service and service e-mail addresses (live page) (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
- s4 Baggage Policy — the Piece Concept effective 1 September 2026, including the "Wheelchairs & Mobility Aids" section (live page) (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
Record quality
Record status researched · confidence high · 4 official sources · 8 contacts · 69% of the fields this reference tracks are answered. Newest source read 29 July 2026, the day before this page was built. What these mean.