Air travel hasn’t always been easy for people with disabilities with reduced mobility. Mistakes and lack of assistance make many disability beneficiaries avoid flights. However, things could be about to change.
Starting on January 16, 2025, a new regulation from the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) will seek to guarantee a more dignified and safe treatment for those who depend on assistive devices and use them when they travel.
A necessary change for disability beneficiaries
Why is this so important? The answer is that losing or damaging a wheelchair is not just an inconvenience. It also means reducing someone’s freedom and autonomy, even if only for a few hours. Imagine that an airline’s mistake prevented you from moving for hours: that’s the reality for many people with disabilities.
What changes with the new regulation?
The first thing is that airlines will have to follow much stricter rules. Let’s break it down:
- Safe and respectful assistance: Airline staff must help people with disabilities without endangering their physical safety and always in a dignified and respectful manner. This includes maintaining their privacy and autonomy—something so simple yet so necessary.
- Mandatory annual training: Workers responsible for physically assisting passengers with disabilities or handling their wheelchairs must undergo annual training. Additionally, they will have to demonstrate their competence through practical evaluations or exams.
- Immediate assistance: Passengers with disabilities will have the right to receive prompt help to board or exit the plane and move through terminals. No more waiting endlessly for assistance.
- Wheelchairs returned in perfect condition: If an airline damages, loses, or delays the delivery of a wheelchair, it must act immediately. Wheelchairs and other assistive devices must be returned exactly as they were received. No excuses.
Why will this regulation be important?
According to DOT data, one in every 100 wheelchairs transported on domestic flights ends up damaged, delayed, or lost. This is a very high figure considering what it means to depend on a wheelchair to move freely.
This problem leads many disability beneficiaries to give up air travel. Who wants to risk being stranded due to someone else’s mistake, or worse, losing their mobility tool?
With these new rules, the goal is clear: to restore confidence to those who need these services and ensure that flying is a fairer and more accessible experience for everyone.
More progress for passengers with disabilities
This regulation is not a surprise. In fact, it is part of a series of actions driven by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to improve the rights of disability beneficiaries:
- In 2022, the Air Passengers with Disabilities Bill of Rights was created, a document that defines their protections and guarantees.
- In 2023, a rule was finalized to make airplane lavatory accessible.
- Additionally, American Airlines was fined $50 million for repeated violations of laws protecting passengers with disabilities.
This demonstrates that efforts are serious and ongoing. Little by little, flying will become a more respectful and inclusive experience.
A more accessible future for air travel
Individuals with disabilities should not hesitate to board a plane. The DOT’s new regulation is a big step forward, ensuring that no one is left behind when it comes to travel. Now it remains to be seen how airlines implement these changes. Because, in the end, what matters is that every passenger feels respected and safe, just as they should.