The New Traveling Environment
THE AIR CARRIER ACCESS RULES SWEEP aside many restrictions that
formerly discriminated against passengers with disabilities:
A carrier may not refuse transportation to a passenger solely
on the basis of a disability.
Air carriers may not limit the number of individuals with disabilities
on a particular flight.
All trip information that is made available to other passengers
also must be made available to passengers with disabilities.
Carriers must provide passage to an individual who has a disability
that may affect his or her appearance or involuntary behavior,
even if this disability may offend, annoy, or be an inconvenience
to crew-members or other passengers.
There are a few exceptions:
The carrier may refuse transportation if the individual with
a disability would endanger the health or safety of other passengers,
or transporting the person would be a violation of FAA safety
rules.
The carrier may refuse transportation if there are no lifts,
boarding chairs or other devices available which can be adapted
to enplane the passenger. Airline personnel are not required to
carry a mobility-impaired person on or off the aircraft by hand,
i.e. to directly pick up the passenger's body in the arms of one
or more airline staffers and carry the individual up or down stairs.
Lifts or similar devices are currently required for nearly all
flights on aircraft with 19 or more seats at airports with 10,000
or more annual enplanements.
There are special rules about persons with certain disabilities
or communicable diseases. These rules are covered in the chapter
entitled “At the Airport.”
The carrier may refuse transportation if it is unable to seat
the passenger without violating the FAA Exit Row Seating rules.
See the chapter “On the Plane.”
There are new procedures for resolving disputes:
All carriers are now required to have a Complaints Resolution
Official (CRO) immediately available (even if by phone) to resolve
disagreements which may arise between the carrier and passengers
with disabilities.
Travelers who disagree with a carrier’s actions toward
them can pursue the issue with the carrier’s CRO on the
spot.
A carrier that refuses transportation to any person based on
a disability must provide a written statement to that person within
10 calendar days, stating the basis for the refusal. The statement
must include, where applicable, the basis for the carrier’s
opinion that transporting the person could be harmful to the safety
of the flight.
If the passenger is still not satisfied, he or she may pursue
DOT enforcement action.
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