I was traveling from Damascus, Syria, to New York City, with a connecting flight in Paris (Flight 006 on Jan. 17, 2007)--already one can see where this is going. Never have I felt as humiliated, disrepected, profiled, and discarded as I did on this trip during my brief stop in Paris. Not that it should matter, but I am a Catholic American citizen, living in the U.S. now for 23 years, ever since I left my homeland of Syria in 1986. I had gone to Damascus to escort my elderly mother of 74 back home after her visit with her sister after an accidental fall. My mother does not get around so well; ever since her cancer, following various other mishaps, I've used special caution when traveling with her. Thus, I had requested a wheelchair when purchasing our airline tickets; however, it was to no avail. Upon our arrival at Charles De Gaulle airport, we were told that there was no wheelchair available and asked to wait at the gate for staff to locate one. After 20 minutes, I was told I had to leave the gate because it was closing, and directed towards the terminal's central authority. Meanwhile, I and my mother, carrying all of our luggage, had to treck another 20 minutes, past some 20 odd gates to reach this destination without any help, concern, or apology. Finally, I received a wheelchair and proceeded to a bus to be transported to another terminal (literally another building), wherein I experienced severe harrassment and abuse by security officials, never having really entered Paris to begin with. I had already gone through this screening process in Damascus, and found a second one highly unneccessary; airport staff responded to my concerns and complaints with arrogance and attitude. The more concern expressed by me for my mother's condition, the more harshly we were treated. After she broke down crying, and we almost missed our flight (the connecting time of which was two hours), we finally boarded the plane--just barely. Before boarding the plane to New York, at the gate, I attempted to resolve my complaint one final time. In response to my concerns, Air France management told me they should have charged me for a wheelchair because not everyone needs one. This insinuation implied that due to customer's needless demand for wheelchairs when they don't need them, one was not available. This was their apology. Needeless to say, I will never again fly Air France.