From Brenda: TravellersAid at Melb’s Southern Cross Station

That's so good to know about! How helpful.

I wonder if Central Station in Sydney offer this.  I'll do some investigating.

When I was at the Air Port in Sydney not so long ago, I did ask for some help by staff with looping my long sticker around my luggage as I had not done this before and found the instructions on the sticker a bit confusing.  I was helped straight away.

In turn when someone asked me about the self serve baggage they were having difficulty with I assisted in moving the luggage around on the conveyor belt until the sticker was in the right position to be scanned.

Sue

Hi, I just came across this post and thought I might respond with the fantastic assistance my defacto husband was given at the Melbourne Airport just a few weeks ago. We live in a country town and previous years I have driven for 3.5hrs (there & back) to help my partner with his luggage and to check in on a direct interstate flight. He had a stroke in 2014 which left him with severe aphasia & apraxia. He’s got very limited speech and often has trouble reading long passages and sometimes difficulty interpreting others. He also has right sided weakness in his arm and leg and walks with a walking stick. Thankfully his cognition and memory are good. 

Seeing that, at the moment, return flights from our town to Melbourne are comparable to the cost of driving there and back we started to look into it. Quickly found out that because he was flying with two different carriers the airline staff were unable to help out with getting his luggage to the check-in in Melbourne and to direct and assist him at check-in as well. 

Enter the Melbourne Airport volunteers!! A lovely bunch of people who assist people at the airport with all sorts of things. I had some emails back and forth with the volunteer coordinator, with the flight details and a photo of my partner, and all was perfectly organised that she would meet my partner after his arrival in Melbourne and walk with him to the check-in. She pushed the trolley with his suitcase and this allowed him to walk freely with his walking stick. As a precaution I had written a little note with my partner’s name, the volunteer’s name and number, flight details and mine and destination names and numbers. This he carried in his top pocket. 
I cannot thank the Melbourne Airport volunteers enough for assisting my partner’s transfer. They gave me peace of mind and allowed my partner a bit more independence again  :) Truly wonderful!

Fantastic ! I hope future days  of navigating air-ports and flights continue to be hassle free.for your partner with such good assistance available.

Sue :-)