New Regulations Will Make Flying “Safer and More Dignified” for Passengers With Disabilities

05.03.2024 - 21:57 / afar.com / Airlines

“It’s not a moment too soon to make travel safer and more dignified for people with disabilities,” Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg told AFAR last week during a phone interview about newly proposed regulations that intend to make flying easier for wheelchair-dependent travelers. “It’s the right thing to do,” he said.

My daughter Claire is one of the 5.5 million Americans who rely on a wheelchair to move around. Disabled passengers like my daughter are required to check their wheelchairs before boarding a plane. Airlines damage and lose wheelchairs at an alarming rate. In 2023, airline carriers reported that they mishandled 11,527 wheelchairs. According to data collected by the Department of Transportation, wheelchairs are mishandled at a much higher rate than baggage and there has been no improvement over the past five years. For Claire and other people with disabilities, flying is a stressful and nerve-wracking experience. Those who rely on wheelchairs never know whether their wheelchairs will be waiting for them at their destination or if their wheelchairs will be damaged if they do arrive.

Without a working wheelchair, disabled passengers arrive at their destination having lost not just their mobility but also their independence. Often, a lost or damaged wheelchair leaves a person with a disability trapped at home or in a hotel room. Waiting for an expensive repair or replacement can take months. Secretary Buttigieg told AFAR that he also heard from other disabled passengers who said that they had been physically injured while receiving assistance boarding or deplaning. And there are stories of those who have been stranded on planes for hours because no one was available to help. One passenger who requires physical assistance to get on and off planes told Secretary Buttigieg that he “felt like a piece of luggage” when flying.

Like many other disabled people, my daughter Claire stopped flying for years because the risks were too high. Claire’s wheelchair was damaged repeatedly by airlines. The very real possibility that she would be homebound for weeks after every flight meant that my family stuck to traveling by car for a long stretch of time. The only time we risk flying with Claire is when it’s absolutely necessary, such as for her grandmother’s memorial service.

After many disabled passengers told Secretary Buttigieg about their “lived experience” of flying, he realized that “the current rules are not enough,” he said. As a result, on February 27, 2024, the Department of Transportation proposed new regulations to help protect the rights of air passengers with disabilities.

If adopted, the new regulations will provide disabled passengers with several new rights. Among them is the right