14 CFR Part 382 Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel (Air Carrier Access Act): Preamble and Section-by-Section Analysis (with amendments issued through July 2010)

382.91 What assistance must carriers provide to passengers with a disability in moving within the terminal? With respect to connecting assistance, the basic mandate is the same as under the existing rule. The arriving carrier (i.e., the one that operates the first of the two flights that are connecting) has the responsibility for connecting assistance. It is permissible for the two carriers to mutually agree that the carrier operating the departing connecting flight (i.e., the second flight of the two) will provide this assistance, but the carrier operating the arriving flight remains responsible under this section for ensuring that the assistance is provided.

The requirements concerning movement through the terminal are clarified to say that the carrier’s assistance responsibility starts at the terminal entrance and goes through the airport to the gate for a passenger arriving to take a flight, and vice-versa for a passenger leaving the airport after a flight.

One addition concerns enroute stops at the entrance to a rest room. If the passenger is being assisted along the basic route from entrance to gate or vice-versa, or to make a connection, and the route goes by a rest room, the person assisting the passenger must stop and allow the passenger to use the amenity, if doing so will not result in unreasonable delay. To receive this assistance, the passenger must self-identify. It could also be very helpful to a passenger to be able to stop at a takeout food or beverage vendor that was enroute [sic], if doing so would not result in an unreasonable delay. The final rule does not require a stop for this purpose, but we believe that airlines and airports interested in good customer service would allow a brief stop for this purpose.

Another addition, applicable only in U.S. airports, is that a carrier would, on request, and in cooperation with the airport operator, have to escort a passenger to a service animal relief area. Finally, carriers would have to assist passengers with disabilities in transporting their carry-on or gate-checked luggage to or from the gate. This obligation would arise only if the passenger could make credible verbal assurances of his or her inability to carry the item due to his or her disability. If the passenger’s verbal assurances to the carrier are not credible, the carrier may require the passenger to produce documentation as a condition of providing the service. All the services mentioned in this paragraph would be provided only on request of a passenger with a disability.

At foreign airports, as mentioned in connection with the terminal accessibility section, airport operators may be the basic providers of terminal services. The carrier may rely on these services, but would have to supplement them if they did not fully comply with the provisions of this Part.