Planning Your Trip
For years, access to the nation’s air travel system for persons
with disabilities was an area of substantial dissatisfaction, with
both passengers and the airline industry recognizing the need for
major improvement. In 1986 Congress passed the Air Carrier Access
Act, requiring the Department of Transportation (DOT) to develop
new regulations which ensure that persons with disabilities will
be treated without discrimination in a way consistent with the safe
carriage of all passengers. These regulations were published in
March 1990 and have been amended several times since then.
The DOT regulations, referred to here as the Air Carrier Access
rules, represent a major stride forward in improving air travel
for persons with disabilities.The rules clearly explain the responsibilities
of the traveler, the carriers, the airport operators, and contractors,
who collectively make up the system which moves over one million
passengers per day.
The Air Carrier Access Act was amended effective April 5, 2000,
to cover foreign air carriers. The rules that implement the ACAA
will be amended to reflect that change.
The Air Carrier Access rules are designed to minimize the special
problems that travelers with disabilities face as they negotiate
their way through the nation’s complex air travel system from
origin to destination. This is achieved:
By recognizing that the physical barriers encountered by passengers
with disabilities can frequently be overcome by employing simple
changes in layout and technology.
By adopting the principle that many difficulties confronting
passengers with hearing or vision impairments will be relieved
if they are provided access to the same information that is available
to all other passengers.
Through training of all air travel personnel who come in day-to-day
contact with persons with disabilities, to understand their needs
and how they can be accommodated quickly, safely, and with dignity.
This guide is designed to offer travelers with disabilities a brief
but authoritative source of information about the Air Carrier Access
rules: the accommodations, facilities, and services that are now
required to be available. It also describes features required by
other regulations designed to make air travel more accessible.
The guide is structured in much the same sequence as a passenger
would plan for a trip: the circumstances he or she must consider
prior to traveling, what will be encountered at the airport, and
what to expect in the transitions from airport to airplane, on the
plane, and then airplane to airport.
 The New Traveling Environment
Getting Advance Information About the Aircraft
When Advance Notice Can Be Required
When Attendants Can Be Required
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