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)

Seating Accommodations

The Foreign Carriers NPRM proposed carrying forward and applying to foreign carriers the seating accommodations requirements of the current ACAA rule. These provisions would require carriers to make available certain seat locations to individuals with certain types of disability calling for a particular seating accommodation.

Some disability community commenters suggested that, if adequate seating accommodations for a person with a disability were not present, the individual should be seated in business or first class without additional charge. Carriers generally opposed this idea. Under the current rule, carriers are not required to provide accommodations in a seating/service class for which a passenger has not bought a ticket (see section 382.38(i)). The final rule continues this approach. Carriers are responsible for making seating accommodations in the seating/service class for which someone has bought a ticket, but are not required to provide a higher level of seat or service because doing so would be more comfortable or convenient for a passenger with a disability. Likewise, the Department is continuing its existing approach that a person who requires two seats for any reason (e.g., because of obesity or a disability) can be required to pay for two seats.

Some carriers asked for an advance notice requirement for passengers needing a seating accommodation (e.g., 48 hours). While it is always a good idea for passengers and carriers to communicate about accommodations as early as possible, the Department’s ACAA regulations and nondiscrimination policies have discouraged advance notice policies as an undue limitation of the ability of passengers with disabilities to travel freely and without discrimination. The experience of U.S. carriers with the existing seating accommodations provision suggests that carriers can provide needed seating accommodations without additional advance notice.

There were several miscellaneous comments concerning seating accommodations. One carrier commented that persons with fused legs could be transported more comfortably in a rear window seat rather than a bulkhead seat in some aircraft configurations. This approach appears consistent with section 382.81 of the final rule, which requires carriers to seat a passenger with a fused leg in a bulkhead seat “or other seat that provides greater legroom than other seats.”

Another carrier mentioned that because it provides “soft bulkheads” and “inflatable seatbelts” in some seats, national safety regulations prohibit seating some persons with disabilities in those seats. In this case, the carrier would then have to accommodate a passenger with a fused leg in any other seat on the aircraft offering greater legroom. If due to a particular aircraft model’s design, no seat on that model other than those prohibited by national regulations offered greater legroom, the carrier would have to apply for a conflict of law waiver. We do not believe it is appropriate, as some disability groups suggested, to require bulkhead row seating to be made available to all wheelchair users. The apparent rationale for this request was to make it more convenient for such passengers to access their personal wheelchairs quickly in order to transfer to another flight or exit the airport. The rationale of the bulkhead seating accommodation for people with fused legs, however, is to make seating on the flight itself less difficult or uncomfortable for passengers, rather than easing the passenger’s exit. A disability group asked the Department to clarify that wheelchair users are not limited to sitting in aisle seats. We agree, like the existing ACAA rule, the final rule does not allow carriers to limit seating options for passengers with disabilities, except where needed to comply with applicable safety rules (e.g., concerning exit rows).