14 CFR Parts 382 and 399; 49 CFR Part 27 - Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel: Accessibility of Web Sites and Automated Kiosks at U.S. Airports - Preamble

Background

On May 13, 2008, the Department of Transportation (“Department” or “DOT,” also “we” or “us”) amended 14 CFR Part 382 (Part 382), its ACAA rule, to apply the rule to foreign carriers and to add new provisions concerning passengers who use medical oxygen and those who are deaf or hard of hearing, among other things. ⁽¹⁾ The final rule consolidated and took final action on proposals from three separate notices of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). ⁽²⁾  In the preamble of the 2008 final rule, we announced that we would defer final action on certain proposals and issues set forth in the three NPRMs in order to seek further information on their cost and technical feasibility through a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM). Among the issues we intended to revisit in the SNPRM was a proposal in the initial NPRM to require carriers and their agents to make their Web sites accessible to people with vision impairments and other disabilities. See 69 FR 64364, 64382-83 (November 4, 2004), hereinafter “Foreign Carrier NPRM.” We also pledged to seek further comment on kiosk accessibility, which we had discussed in the preamble of the initial NPRM. See Id. at 64370. In the 2008 final rule, as an interim measure, we mandated that carriers ensure passengers with disabilities who cannot use inaccessible kiosks or inaccessible Web sites are provided equivalent service.

On September 26, 2011, the Department published an SNPRM proposing to require U.S. and foreign air carriers to make their Web sites accessible to individuals with disabilities and to ensure that their ticket agents do the same. We also proposed to require U.S. and foreign air carriers to ensure that their proprietary and shared-use automated airport kiosks are accessible to individuals with disabilities. In addition, we proposed to revise our rule implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. 794) to require U.S. airports to work with airlines to ensure that shared-use automated airport kiosks are accessible to individuals with disabilities. The SNPRM also set forth the technical criteria and procedures that we proposed to apply to automated airport kiosks and to Web sites on which air transportation is marketed to the general public in the United States to ensure that individuals with disabilities can readily use these technologies to obtain the same information and services as other members of the public. See 76 FR 59307 (September 26, 2011). Comments on the SNPRM were to be filed by November 25, 2011.