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

Retrofitting Kiosks

The SNPRM: In proposing to require that only new kiosks ordered after a certain date be accessible, we had also considered proposing to require carriers to either retrofit or replace a certain percentage or number of airport kiosks (e.g., retrofit 25 percent of existing kiosks or replace at least one kiosk) in each location at the airport by a certain date. We ultimately decided against proposing either option, as the available information suggests that these approaches would significantly increase the cost to carriers. Nonetheless, we also had concerns that the transition time for an accessible kiosk to become available at each location in an airport could be more than a decade. The best life cycle estimates for airport kiosks available to us when the September 2011 SNPRM was published ranged from seven to ten years. We therefore asked for comment on the accuracy of our life cycle estimate and whether the Department should require carriers to retrofit or replace a certain portion of their kiosks to meet the accessibility standards until all automated airport kiosks are accessible.

Comments: Most disability advocacy organizations, individual commenters who self-identified as having a disability, and some commenters from the general public supported an interim requirement to retrofit some percentage of existing kiosks to accelerate the availability of accessible kiosks at all locations in an airport. The Trace Center, NFB, and BBI supported a phased retrofit schedule such that 25 percent of all deployed kiosks must be accessible by 1 year, 50 percent by 3 years, 75 percent by 5 years, and 100 percent by 7 years after the effective date. NCIL advocated a more accelerated approach for retrofitting that would have 100 percent of deployed kiosks accessible by five years after the effective date. PVA urged the Department to require that any existing kiosk that is altered (voluntarily modified or refurbished, including any software modification or upgrade) must be retrofitted to meet the accessibility standard. The Trace Center conceded that retrofitting “can be significantly more expensive than deploying new accessible kiosks” due to loss of the lower cost production environment and economies of scale, as well as the additional costs of taking kiosks out of service and the actual cost to modify the kiosk. They acknowledged that even activating dormant accessibility features (e.g., headset connector) can be a significant undertaking that would take some lead-time to complete.

The San Francisco International Airport also recommended retrofitting some existing kiosks as a reasonable alternative to requiring only that new kiosks ordered after the effective date be accessible. They reasoned that if only new kiosks must meet the accessibility requirements, it would create an adverse incentive for airlines to maintain older kiosks beyond their useful life and delay full accessibility for many years. They thought it likely that the airport industry would be ready to support immediate retrofits.

Carriers and the carrier associations opposed any kind of retrofitting. They added that many kiosk models could not be retrofitted because they are near the end of their life cycle and are no longer supported by the manufacturer. The IATA CUSS working group estimated incremental costs of at least $3,000 per kiosk to retrofit to the DOT standard. ITI said that the costs of retrofitting an existing kiosk would be difficult to quantify—particularly older kiosks with operating systems that are not compatible with text-to-speech technology and may not support software needed for speech output. They noted that in addition to hardware costs, there would also be software certification costs. Several manufacturer representatives echoed these concerns, indicating that there are significant technical feasibility issues associated with retrofitting.

DOT Decision: The Department acknowledges that a requirement to retrofit some percentage of kiosks to meet the accessibility standard would accelerate the near-term availability of accessible machines at airports. While more rapid near-term availability of accessible machines is an important objective, retrofitting is clearly an expensive, and in some cases, technically infeasible means to accomplish it. A shortened compliance timeline also runs the risk of insufficient testing to ensure the successful integration and error-free operation of all the hardware and software components of accessible kiosks. In lieu of requiring retrofitting of existing kiosks, carriers and airports will be required to ensure that at least 25 percent of automated kiosks in each location at an airport are accessible and that accessible kiosks provided in each location at the airport provide all the same functions as the inaccessible kiosks at that location by ten years after the rule's effective date. As mentioned earlier, with data from carriers and industry experts confirming that the typical kiosk life cycle is between five and seven years, we anticipate that 25 percent of kiosks in all locations at an airport will have been replaced with accessible models well before this ten-year deadline. Compliant kiosks will begin to be installed in locations at airports no later than 3 years after the effective date of this rule.