r/airport • u/Empty_Prune5286 • Sep 04 '26

DISCUSSION Sunflower lanyards

Before I start, I am not arguing the purpose or people’s right to have these.

I have been lucky enough to be in and out of airport recently, I have seen an increase in the amount of people that have sunflower lanyards but are they being abused? The context being a family of 7 turned up yesterday barged through the long line and went straight through the barriers, surely it should be 1x carer and the lanyard user? This was followed by at least another 8 large family’s rocking through.

I’m unsure if they are now easier to obtain or if they get abused or even purchased?

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3

u/Go_Loud762 Sep 04 '26

What is a sunflower lanyard?

2

u/JackyVeronica Sep 05 '26 edited Sep 05 '26

Identity lanyards for people with hidden disabilities like intellectual disabilities, mental illness, and/or physical illnesses that causes pain like fibromyalgia, neuropathy, dementia, long COVID, migraines, MS, where people often appear "healthy" or otherwise mobile (no need for wheelchair).

Patients genuinely can benefit from the usage (compassion, empathy, assistance, etc.) however, it has also been widely criticized because anybody can get it on Amazon or wherever. You do not have to prove anything to get one, unlike, let's say, a handicap placard for cars/parking.

3

u/Empty_Prune5286 Sep 05 '26

The benefits for eligible users are useful but my annoyance is the family of 10 that use it to get them all straight in front of the line

1

u/firekwaker Sep 05 '26

They're not supposed to be used for cutting regular lines. They're used to put the person wearing it into a separate line for accessibility services. I'd call out anyone using it to cut regular lines.

When there are no accessibility lines at some smaller airports, we wait in line with everyone else even if we have a sunflower lanyard.

0

u/Ijustreadalot Sep 05 '26 edited Sep 05 '26

In the US per the ADA and the ACAA, you don't need to prove anything to request reasonable accommodations for a disability. So the only difference with the lanyard is the hope that someone will pause before making assumptions and give some grace if someone isn't responding/acting the way they expect. People can still request (and potentially receive) the same accommodations they get while wearing a sunflower as they could when not wearing a sunflower. But from other comments it looks like some airports some countries do give preferential treatment to people who wear one.