The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has released a new final rule that includes “new protections for people with disabilities in commercial air travel that will ensure that they can fly safely and with dignity.”
A Dec. 16 DOT announcement from DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg added that the new, “more rigorous standards” applied “especially for passengers who use wheelchairs.”
“The rule sets new standards for assistance, mandates hands-on training for airline employees and contractors who physically assist passengers with disabilities and handle passengers’ wheelchairs, and specifies actions that airlines must take to protect passengers when a wheelchair is damaged or delayed during transport,” the DOT announcement said.
“Every passenger deserves safe, dignified travel when they fly — and we’ve taken unprecedented actions to hold airlines accountable when they do not provide fair treatment to passengers with disabilities,” Buttigieg said. “With the new protections we’re announcing today, we’re establishing a new standard for air travel — with clear and thorough guidelines for airlines to ensure that passengers using wheelchairs can travel safely and with dignity.”
The DOT said “an estimated 5.5 million Americans use a wheelchair,” and added that its data “shows that for every 100 wheelchairs or scooters transported on domestic flights at least one is damaged, delayed or lost. When an individual’s wheelchair is delayed or damaged by an airline, their mobility, health, and freedom can be severely impacted until the wheelchair can be returned or replaced.”
Final rule emphasizes ongoing education and training
The new rule requires annual hands-on training for airline employees and contractors “who physically assist passengers with mobility disabilities or handle passengers’ wheelchairs or scooters. As part of the required training, airline employees and contractors must be able to successfully demonstrate their knowledge such as through competency assessments or certification exams. All airline employees and contractors who provide physical assistance to persons with mobility disabilities or handle the transport of wheelchairs or scooters must receive training as specified in the final rule by June 17, 2026.”
Airlines are also required to provide “safe and dignified assistance” to passengers who have disabilities. The final rule “defines ‘safe’ to mean assistance provided to individuals with disabilities that does not put them at heightened risk of bodily injury. The rule defines ‘dignified’ to mean assistance provided in a manner that respects a passenger’s independence, autonomy and privacy.”
Airlines will need to provide and support “prompt enplaning, deplaning and connecting assistance from airlines to passengers with disabilities, including moving within the airport terminal.” Prompt deplaning, the announcement said, is defined by the airline having staff plus a boarding wheelchair available to remove the passenger from the aircraft “when the last passenger who did not request deplaning assistance departs the aircraft. The passenger’s personal wheelchair must be available as close as possible to the door of the aircraft to the maximum extent possible, if requested.”
Burden of proof on the airlines for damaged wheelchairs
Going forward, when a passenger’s checked wheelchair “is not returned to the passenger in the same condition it was received” — in other words, when a wheelchair is undamaged when it’s checked in, but damaged when it’s returned to the passenger — “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,” the announcement said. The final rule additionally describes what the airline must prove “to overcome the presumption of a violation.”
Airlines must also tell passengers in writing that they can contact a Complaint Resolution Official to file a claim against the airline if their wheelchair or scooter is damaged. Airlines must inform passengers of their right to receive a loaner wheelchair “with certain customizations” from the airline, and to choose the company to perform repairs or provide a replacement wheelchair, if the passenger has a vendor preference.
And airlines must reimburse passengers for accessible ground transportation to and from the airport if the passenger needs to make alternative arrangements because the airline failed to promptly return the passenger’s wheelchair or scooter.
New requirements have implementation deadlines from Jan. 16, 2025, to June 17, 2026. The final rule goes into effect on Jan. 16, 2025.