Just shining a spotlight to bring public awareness toward the new more rigorous standards for accommodating passengers with disabilities in commercial air travel, especially for passengers who use wheelchairs or who have medical equipment.
Effective on January 16, 2025, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has issued a final rule to strengthen its regulation implementing the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) and to address the serious problems that individuals with disabilities using wheelchairs and scooters face when traveling by air that impact their safety and dignity, including mishandled wheelchairs and scooters and improper transfers to and from aircraft seats, aisle chairs, and personal wheelchairs. Final Rule on Ensuring Safe Accommodations for Air Travelers with Disabilities Using Wheelchairs.
The purpose of this action is to increase access to safe and dignified air travel for individuals with disabilities. The aim is to address damaged and delayed personal wheelchairs and assistive devices and unsafe assistance provided by airlines staff that can lead to life disruptions such as loss of mobility independence, personal injury, lost opportunities and wages, and other significant harms. Some wheelchair users even avoid flying altogether because of these risks and their past negative experiences. The legislation focuses on enhancing the training of airline employees on handling equipment used by individuals with disabilities, ensuring that they receive the necessary knowledge and support to provide a more inclusive and accommodating travel experience.
The passage of this legislation is particularly important for individuals like me who have personally experienced a mishandled wheelchair by an airline. Several years ago, I was traveling from California to Florida for my company’s annual national sales meeting. Unfortunately, my power wheelchair, which has custom positioning supports, sustained damage when we arrived in Florida. The airline left my wheelchair exposed to a downpour of rain after it was unloaded from the plane. It was brought to me at the gate with the seat cushions completely soaked and water dripping from the chair. I was offered a plastic garbage bag to put on my cushion, so I wasn’t directly sitting on a wet seat, and also offered information of where to go in the airport if I wanted to file a customer service concern. At the customer service office, I raised my chair into the elevated standing feature to discuss the matter with the agent on the other side of the counter. At that moment, the full impact of the water damage set into the electric components of my chair, and it completely stopped working. There I was stuck in the standing position in my broken soaking wet chair, in a customer service office at an airport across the country from my home and needing to develop an impromptu emergency plan. I was so excited to go on this work trip to meet with my colleagues, but at that moment I felt the enormity of the situation which was disappointing and upsetting both emotionally and physically. My family member was able to safely get me out of my chair. The airline had a basic metal wheelchair I could borrow while at the airport. The next several hours we searched online listings of wheelchair medical supply vendors to inquire about renting a loaner and if anyone could bring it to the airport on a rainy Sunday evening. Ultimately, no loaners were available that night. Since we had been at the airport for many hours with no other way to leave the airport, the airlines agreed to let me borrow their manual transport wheelchair after a stern conversation. I left my broken wheelchair at the airport which was later deemed totaled. The customer service staff was empathetic but not highly trained for this situation and not able to directly offer the support I needed. A big shout out to the airline insurance group though - they were very accommodating and instrumental supporting with a loaner power chair and arranging for a replacement covering the cost which was well over 100k to buy a new one.
It takes a considerable amount of time to receive specialty wheelchairs. Using loaner chairs in the interim resulted in long term health implications for me. Not to mention, I am fearful to fly with my powerchair and have limited my air travel as a result. This story is by far the worst for me of mishandled equipment, and just one story of millions of travelers with disabilities who have faced similar or worse situations while traveling related to their equipment or personal dignity. This subject could be another blog entirely!
This new legislation brings hope for many people with disabilities traveling as it is designed to safeguard specialty medical equipment and its handling, reduce the concern of being injured during transfers, provide better assistance and prompt enplaning, deplaning and travelling to connecting terminals.
“An estimated 5.5 million Americans use a wheelchair, and many encounter barriers when it comes to air travel. DOT data shows that for every 100 wheelchairs or scooters transported on domestic flights at least one is damaged, delayed, or lost.” – U.S. Department of Transportation
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