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)

Stowage of Wheelchairs and Mobility Aids

The current rule requires wheelchairs that cannot be carried in the cabin to be checked, carried as baggage, and returned to users as closely as possible to the door of the aircraft. These devices have priority over other items in the baggage compartment. Carriers must accept battery-powered wheelchairs (and other battery-powered mobility aids) in baggage, subject to applicable hazardous materials rules. Wheelchairs powered by lithium batteries may not be permitted under the hazardous materials rules depending on the lithium content of the battery. Generally, non-spillable batteries do not need to be removed from wheelchairs and separately packaged, if the batteries are securely attached to the wheelchair and the batteries or their housing, if any, are clearly marked as being non-spillable. Wet cell batteries which are not non-spillable may require removal from the wheelchair if the wheelchair cannot be loaded and stowed in an upright condition and secured against movement in the cargo compartment. Carriers may establish a one-hour advance check-in time to process battery-powered wheelchairs. Wheelchair users may provide written instructions concerning assembly and disassembly of their devices. On domestic flights, U.S. carriers must fully compensate passengers for loss of or damage to wheelchairs, without regard to rules limiting liability for lost or damaged baggage.

The Foreign Carriers NPRM essentially proposed to continue these provisions and apply them to foreign as well as U.S. carriers. Commenters made a number of points in response. One commenter asserted that the requirement to carry power wheelchairs in the baggage compartment was inconsistent with ICAO technical standards and IATA dangerous goods rules. While virtually identical in many respects, the DOT and ICAO/IATA standards differ, the commenter said, because the latter gives carriers discretion to refuse to carry such mobility aids while the former does not. The Department, according to the commenter, cannot impose a lesser requirement than the international standard. In the Department’s view, there is no conflict. As cited by the commenter, the ICAO/IATA standard gives carriers the discretion to carry battery-powered wheelchairs. The DOT requirement tells carriers to exercise the discretion permitted them by the ICAO/IATA standard by, in fact, carrying the wheelchairs. The DOT rule does not require anything that the ICAO/IATA rule does not allow. It would not be accurate to call the Department’s requirement a “lesser” standard than that of ICAO/IATA. Indeed, it is more properly regarded as a higher standard, since it ensures service to passengers with disabilities that the ICAO/IATA materials leave to carrier discretion.

On October 5, 2007, the Department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration (PHMSA) issued a special permit in response to an IATA request. The permit, which granted an exemption from portions of the Department’s hazardous materials rules concerning battery-powered mobility aids, was revised in response to ATA’s request on October 30, 2007. Under the special permit, the current term of which expires January 31, 2009, a non-spillable battery that is completely enclosed and protected from short circuits in a rigid case integral to the mobility aid would not have to be disconnected and its terminals further protected from short circuits to be carried on an aircraft. This special permit should make handling of some battery-powered wheelchairs easier for carriers to which the permit applies. It is PHMSA’s intention to issue a rulemaking in the future that will extend the provisions of this exemption to all carriers. Due to the many instances of wheelchair damage resulting from disconnecting battery cables, the Department will require carriers not to disconnect the cables on non-spillable batteries unless a PHMSA or FAA safety regulation, or the safety regulation of a foreign government, requires them to do so.

Carriers and passengers with disabilities had differing views on the existing and proposed requirements for carriers to permit passengers to provide written instructions about the disassembly and reassembly of wheelchairs. Some of the former suggested requiring passengers to provide the manufacturer’s instructions; some of the latter suggested that the airline employee who disassembles the wheelchair provide written instructions that would go forward to the employee who reassembles the wheelchair at its destination telling that employee how to put the device back together.

The Department believes that both suggestions have some merit. To the extent that there are relevant manufacturer’s instructions, it seems useful for passengers to provide a copy to carriers. We do not think it would be appropriate to require the provision of manufacturer’s instructions, since they may not exist in all cases and may not apply to specialized or customized features of a particular passenger’s device. It also seems plausible that a user of a particular device would be in a good position to provide experience-based instructions to the carrier. Likewise, to the extent that a carrier employee at the passenger’s originating airport can write down a “here’s how I took it apart and here’s how it goes back together” note to his counterpart at the destination, the information could be helpful to the latter. However, the employee may not have time to do so, and some passengers may prefer that the employee does not do so (i.e., out of concern that the employee could get it wrong). Consequently, we do not believe it advisable to change the proposed language.

Some carrier comments said that Warsaw/Montreal convention provisions controlled payments for items carried as baggage and that the Department should not attempt to alter compensation requirements for international flights. We agree, and the Foreign Carriers NPRM proposed to make compensation requirements for lost or damaged mobility aids applicable only to U.S. domestic passenger trips. The final rule will do the same.

Some commenters suggested that the advance check-in time for persons delivering mobility aids for transportation in the baggage compartment should be 60 minutes before the regular check-in time for passengers, rather than 60 minutes before scheduled departure time. We agree, and we have changed the rule accordingly.

Some carrier comments noted that the existing and proposed regulatory language concerning luggage that doesn’t make a flight because of the space taken by a wheelchair calls for the carrier to make best efforts to deliver the luggage within four hours. Commenters said that this often was not practical in international service, where flights may be scheduled at intervals of one a day or less. This is a fair comment; we have changed the language to say that such luggage must be placed on the carrier’s next flight. We believe this is a reasonable standard for domestic as well as international flights.

The Department recognizes that there may be some circumstances in which it is not practical to stow an electric wheelchair, or some other sort of assistive device, in the baggage compartment. Only devices that fit and that meet all applicable hazardous materials and other safety regulations need be carried.

Some wheelchairs – such as those equipped with securely mounted non-spillable batteries or those for which the carriers remove the batteries and stow them separately under 49 CFR 175.10(a)(15) and (16) – are capable of being stowed in other than an upright position without damage to the wheelchair or batteries. However, if the physical size of the compartment – its actual dimensions, not crowding caused by other items – do not permit a wheelchair to be carried upright safely without risk of serious damage to the wheelchair, or a load imbalance caused by a large wheelchair in a small baggage compartment may violate weight and balance safety requirements, carriers could legitimately decline transportation of the item on that flight and should assist the passenger in identifying a flight using an aircraft that can accommodate the chair.

Given that the rule allows the carrier to require 48 hours’ advance notice with respect to carrying electric wheelchairs, the carrier should use this time period to find an arrangement that will get the passenger and his or her chair to the intended destination. For example, when a change to a smaller aircraft the day before the flight’s departure will preclude the passenger’s wheelchair from being accommodated in the cargo hold (e.g., the cargo space dimensions are too small for the chair to fit), the carrier must either offer the passenger alternative transportation at a different time or provide a fare refund. In circumstances where the passenger accepts alternative transportation on a flight of a different carrier, the first carrier must, to the maximum extent feasible, provide assistance to the second carrier in providing the accommodation requested by the individual from the first carrier.

A disability group also raised the concern – which could apply to manual as well as electric wheelchairs – that if several wheelchair users were traveling on a small aircraft, like a commuter aircraft or a regional jet, there might not be room in the baggage compartment for everyone’s wheelchair. This situation could occur, but we do not see a regulatory solution to it. If a group is traveling together, providing as much notice as possible to the carrier to work the problem is advisable. Otherwise, the carrier would probably have to put some passengers’ wheelchairs on a subsequent flight. A carrier association said that carriers should only have to carry one motorized mobility device per passenger. We do not believe it is necessary to provide for this situation in the regulatory text. However, in a situation like the above where there was not room for all disabled passenger’s wheelchairs, we agree that it would make sense for the carrier to take one mobility device for each passenger on the flight before taking a second device for some passengers.