Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Transportation released a final rule that will require airlines to meet more rigorous standards for accommodating wheelchair users and passengers with disabilities. This rule, together with the historic $50 million fine levied against American Airlines for mistreatment of disabled flyers, will be key pieces of Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s legacy at the Department of Transportation.
On Tuesday, the Secretary held an event at DOT Headquarters in Washington, D.C. to discuss the new rule, which will be effective on January 16, 2025. You can watch a recording of Sec. Buttigieg’s remarks here:
Earlier this year, I discussed the proposed rule at great length with readers of this newsletter over a series of Accessible Travel Chats which you can watch on YouTube at the following links:
Some highlights of the final rule, which you can read it its entirety on the DOT website, include the following:
- Publication of Information Related to Aircraft Cargo Holds: Airlines must provide the relevant dimensions of the cargo holds for all aircraft types operated by the carrier on their websites. (If you don’t want to wait, check out my List of Airplane Cargo Door Dimensions on WheelchairTravel.org, which was published nearly a decade ago).
- Reimbursement of Fare Difference: If a passenger traveling with their own wheelchair is required to book a more expensive flight than the one desired due to airplane cargo hold dimensions, the carrier must reimburse the passenger for difference in fare.
- Safe and Dignified Assistance Standard: Airlines must provide safe and dignified assistance to disabled passengers, with the rule defining “safe” as assistance that does not put them at heightened risk of bodily injury, and “dignified” as assistance provided in a manner that respects a passenger’s independence, autonomy, and privacy. I look forward to testing what the DOT considers to be violations of this rule.
- Enhanced Training for Airline Personnel and Contractors: The rule requires annual training, including hands-on training, for airline employees and contractors who physically assist passengers with mobility disabilities or handle passengers’ wheelchairs or scooters. All airline employees and contractors who provide physical assistance or handle wheelchairs/scooters must receive training no later than June 17, 2026.
- Rebuttable Presumption of a Violation for Mishandlings: The rule reinforces that airlines must return all checked wheelchairs and assistive devices to passengers in the condition in which they are received. It specifies that whenever a mobility device is not returned in the same condition, there is a rebuttable presumption that the airline mishandled the passenger’s wheelchair or other assistive device in violation of the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA). Some airlines have recently begun refusing to repair cosmetic damage to devices (which is often a sign of more significant or structural damage), and this rule should render those policies null and void. If I hired a company to transport my car and it arrived with scratches and dents, I would expect to be compensated — the same is true for airlines mishandling my wheelchair!
I am currently working to update my Air Carrier Access Act Guide with the revisions included in this final rule, and will alert you once that has been completed.
The November election of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States means that Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s tenure at the DOT will end in January. Following the formal nomination of his successor, I will assess Secretary Pete’s legacy and offer my thoughts on where accessible air travel policy is likely to go under the next administration (sneak peek: it’s unlikely to change much, either for good or bad).
