Q’STRAINT/Sure-Lok Expands already Strong Partnership with All Wheels Up

INDUSTRY NEWSFebruary 6, 2020

Q’STRAINT/Sure-Lok and All Wheels Up (AWU) share one common goal – making safety accessible for mobility device passengers through the use of wheelchair securement solutions. The only difference is that Q’STRAINT concentrates on wheelchair securement on the ground, while AWU’s focus is in the air.

Who is All Wheels Up?

AWU is working to make airline travel accessible through a number of initiatives including collaborating with airline commissions like the FAA, performing feasibility studies, and creating awareness through numerous marketing programs to provide stakeholders with the necessary research to advance their mission of making the friendly skies a whole lot friendlier for mobility device users.

Crash Testing Major Component of Partnership

Since Q’STRAINT specializes in crash testing wheelchairs at their industry leading IQ Center of Excellence, AWU has been a benefactor. Q’STRAINT has effectively taken the lead for AWU to crash test wheelchairs in order to provide airline regulators like the FAA, the necessary data to advance their cause.

“Q’STRAINT has been a critical player in providing AWU with the product knowledge and resources to move our agenda forward in making wheelchairs accessible for commercial flights,” said Michelle Erwin, president of AWU, a non-profit organization whose mission is to make airlines wheelchair accessible.” “We are the only organization in the world crash testing wheelchair tie downs and wheelchairs for commercial flight and we couldn’t have come this far without Q’STRAINT and its use of their world renowned IQ Center of Excellence.”

A Longtime Partnership

For more than a decade, Q’STRAINT and AWU, have partnered on a number of projects in an effort to one day make airline wheelchair accessibility a reality. You don’t have to look any further than AWU’s web site homepage, where Q’STRAINT is prominently referenced – to see how closely the two organizations are aligned.

While airline wheelchair securement is not yet a front and center issue with the public per se, Q’STRAINT has commissioned some of its subject matter experts for AWU to help get the word out to decision makers at national speaking engagements.

Oli Davalos, a Q’STRAINT product manager, recently presented key research findings at the Second Annual Airline Wheelchair Securement Working Group which was attended by the who’s who in the aviation industry including airline commissions, congressional representatives, manufacturers, and grassroots volunteers among others.

“Meeting and sharing ideas and information in a public forum is critical to AWU’s wider thrust of being the change agent to further their cause,” said Davalos. “This public exchange – focused on cabin wheelchair securement – has been instrumental in resolving ongoing issues, educating the public, raising funds, and exchanging ideas with industry experts.”

“At the end of the day, all we are asking airlines for is to preserve a wheelchair accessible spot on their airplanes…”

Michelle Erwin, All Wheels Up President

Q’STRAINT Launching National Fundraising Campaign

Q’STRAINT and AWU’s special relationship continues to evolve and now has entered an exciting new phase. Q’STRAINT announced in a press release that they will be launching a national trade show promotion where booth visitors at a number of tradeshows where the company will be exhibiting at will be invited to play a popular video game. All proceeds will go to AWU to help fund their efforts in making airline wheelchair securement a reality someday.

In the partnership, Q’STRAINT will be donating $5 to AWU, for every tradeshow booth visitor who participates in the “Elements Matching Game.” Participants will be challenged to match periodic table elements with the correct symbol.

In addition, Q’STRAINT will match every $5 donated to the national promotion. The high scorer of each event will win exciting prizes provided by Q’STRAINT.

The monies raised from the fundraising campaign will help pay for AWU’s ambitious line of on-going projects which include performing more wheelchair crash tests, working with regulators like the FAA to facilitate the process, creating futuristic simulation videos showing how wheelchair accessible air travel could look like, and completing airport safety feasibility studies.

“All these undertakings are not free and come with a hefty price tag,” added Erwin. “This is why our alliance with Q’STRAINT to assist in raising money for our organization is so critical in our effort to attain our goals.”

“When we considered whom to partner up with for this important promotion, we felt that because of our commitment and dedication to Making Safety Accessible to all wheelchair passengers our partnering with All Wheels Up was the logical choice,” said Maria Huertas, Q’STRAINT marketing director. “Both of our efforts are dedicated to helping make this vision become a reality.”

“At the end of the day, all we are asking airlines for is to preserve a wheelchair accessible spot on their airplanes,” Erwin explained. “I think this is a reasonable request considering the length mobility device passengers have to go through just to travel on an airplane.”