Last year, accessibility advocate Engracia Figueroa flew back home to L.A. from D.C. after attending a disability rights rally. Her $30,000 wheelchair, custom made for her spinal injury and amputated leg, was improperly stowed in the cargo by United Airlines, and broke during the flight. The airline gave her a replacement, which was also damaged. But she was forced to use it for months because the airline refused to replace it. It affected her balance, and she developed a pressure sore that grew infected. Within three months of the flight, Figueroa had died.
It’s an extreme example of the dangers people with disabilities face every time they fly. And in peak travel seasons, like the upcoming Thanksgiving break, concern about things going wrong heightens. From check-in to deboarding, and every step in between, there are constant obstacles, including risks of injury, wheelchair damage, and lack of bathroom access. Advocates are lobbying the federal government to pass a bill that would hold airlines more accountable, and in the short term, they offer tips for travelers to make this year’s Thanksgiving experience run more smoothly.
“The moment they book their ticket, they are potentially faced with a variety of barriers,” says Kim Beer, senior director of public policy at the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, a nonprofit research advocacy group that works to improve the lives of people impacted by paralysis. According to a GAO report, 27 million people with disabilities traveled in 2019; in 2018, there were 36,000 disability-related complaints with airlines.
“When something does go wrong, the consequences can range from inconvenient to catastrophic,” wrote James Langevin, a Democratic U.S. representative from Rhode Island who is quadriplegic, in his testimonial before a House hearing on November 17. The hearing was for the Air Carrier Access Amendments Act of 2021 bill, which he introduced last year with Senator Tammy Baldwin.
Beer walks through the typical travel process for people who use wheelchairs. First, they have to navigate through the airport; at TSA, they often get stopped and delayed for longer than others due to their equipment or prosthetics. Langevin wrote that he’s been “wrongfully denied boarding on multiple occasions” because of the lithium-ion batteries that power his wheelchair, despite having presented documentation about the equipment.
At the gate, travelers with wheelchairs are accompanied by airline contractors whose job it is to lead them onto the plane and transfer them from a wheelchair to a seat. That transferral can be scary, Beer says, and there have been many instances of being dropped. “Now they’re separated from their wheelchair, which is their form of independence,” she says.
The wheelchairs go into stowage below the cabin. “That creates a lot of anxiety for people,” Beer says, because the chair often reappears broken or missing pieces. Paralympic basketball player Matt Scott wrote in his House testimonial that his custom chairs—his livelihood—have been “mishandled, neglected, damaged, and sometimes destroyed beyond repair,” leading to a loss of income. Langevin remarked that he has watched from the plane window as his chair has rolled off the aircraft and crashed. “My wheelchair is essentially my legs,” he wrote.
A lesser-known issue is the lack of accessible bathrooms, which single-aisle flights are not required to have on board. Some travelers purposely starve and dehydrate themselves so as not to have to use the facilities; if they do have to go, there have been instances of having to use bag at their seat or crawl over to the bathroom without help. “It’s really horrific,” Beer says. A survey of travelers with disabilities found that 60% said the lavatory situation was enough to stop them from traveling by air.
Finally, once the trip is over, they are the last ones to deplane, as they wait for the contractors, risking missing connections or even being forgotten on board. And if their wheelchairs reappear damaged, they have to spend time file repair claims at the airport.
The proposed bill, the Air Carrier Access Amendments Act, would be an extension of 1986’s Air Carrier Access Act, which is meant to allow for reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities on an aircraft. (The ADA, or Americans with Disabilities Act, does not cover passengers on airplanes, only at airports.) Advocates, including Langevin and the Reeve Foundation, are pushing for more co-sponsors for the bill.
If passed, the legislation would mandate airlines to provide a series of better accommodations: better plane design in new aircraft, accessible lavatories, proper training for employees for transferral and wheelchair storage, better boarding and deplaning equipment that ensures promptness, and seating accommodations such as more seats without armrests. The FAA’s funding is reauthorized every four years and will next happen in 2023, so it’s a priority to pass the bill and direct some of that money towards implementing these changes.
Besides the bill, Beer has seen some progress, both from the government and the private sector. Some investments have been made, especially at the airport level: 73 airports received $826 million in government funding 2022 to make changes including curb cuts, ramps, and accessible restrooms.
In October 2022, Airlines For America, a lobbying group that represents U.S. carriers, announced a commitment to place a passenger access advisory group in place at each airline, to implement better education and training, and design safety features. It’s unclear when that would take place, though Beer says some airlines have individually been more proactive, such as Alaska Airlines, which has invited people with disabilities to serve on new internal advisory boards. (The airlines have not yet taken a position on Air Carrier Access Amendments Act itself.)
Beer has also been impressed with current Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who has released a policy agenda for people with disabilities. He commented in August that airlines should be aspiring toward having people with disabilities stay in their own personal wheelchairs on planes. “We know that this won’t happen overnight, but it is a goal that we have to work to fulfill,” Buttigieg said.
But while waiting for federal legislation, the problem remains. As Thanksgiving and other busy travel periods approach, some people often opt not to fly at all, but drive home for hours instead.
For those choosing to fly, Beer offers some advice—while acknowledging that all the advice places extra burden on Thanksgiving travelers instead of the airlines. When booking their tickets, they should ensure they fill out all accommodation information, including wheelchair stowage instructions, and service animal details. They can also call ahead to the TSA Cares helpline, and reserve a “passenger support specialist” to help you through the process. She says, if possible, travelers should make their wheelchairs easier to stow, perhaps by taking some pieces off and packing them; and to have someone travel with them, to both physically help and advocate for them.
Should something serious happen during the flight, Beer urges passengers to file complaints with the DOT (or reach out to advocacy groups to help). According to the GAO report, complaints rose by 54% between 2019 and 2021, and that’s been an important fact in raising awareness of the issues with the government. Again, that’s extra work placed on the passengers, but could have value in driving long-term change. “The onus always falls on them to have to report everything,” Beer says. “But we really encourage that, because this gets reported to Congress.”
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