Air Carrier Access Act Technical Assistance Manual (2005)

APPENDIX III

Frequently Asked Questions

QUESTION: What’s the difference between the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?

ANSWER: The ACAA, signed into law by then-President Reagan in 1986, prohibits discrimination by airlines against individuals with disabilities in commercial air transportation. The ADA, signed into law after the ACAA in 1990 by then-President Bush, prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in employment, public accommodations, commercial facilities, telecommunications, and transportation other than by commercial airlines (e.g., subway and bus systems). [Sec. 382.1]

QUESTION: Do the ACAA and its implementing regulations (14 CFR part 382 or part 382) apply to both U.S. and foreign carriers?

ANSWER: When initially passed in 1986, the ACAA and part 382 (subsequently issued in March 1990) applied only to U.S. carriers. However, on April 5, 2000, Congress extended the applicability of the ACAA to cover foreign carriers. At approximately the same time, DOT issued a notice to foreign carriers advising them that the Department intended to use the provisions of part 382, which by its terms does not impose requirements on foreign air carriers, as guidance in investigating any complaints it receives alleging noncompliance with the ACAA by foreign carriers. The only provision of part 382 that currently applies to foreign air carriers is Section 382.70(b), which expressly requires foreign carriers to record, categorize, and report written disability-related complaints associated with any flight segment originating or terminating in the U.S. to DOT on an annual basis. DOT will soon be issuing a revised part 382 that will apply to both U.S. and foreign carriers. [Sec. 382.3]

QUESTION: Recently, I broke my leg and I’ll be in a cast and walking with crutches for several weeks. Am I covered by the ACAA?

ANSWER: Yes. The ACAA and part 382 apply to individuals who have a physical or mental impairment that, on a permanent or temporary basis, substantially limits a major life activity. Since your temporary impairment limits the major life activity of walking, you are considered a qualified individual with a disability. Therefore, you are covered by the ACAA and Part 382. [Sec. 382.5]

QUESTION: Am I entitled to the services and accommodations required by part 382 if I’m a qualified individual with a disability but I’m not a passenger, but rather I am just going to the airport to meet a friend who is traveling?

ANSWER: Yes. Carriers are required, under appropriate circumstances, to provide the services and accommodations mandated by part 382, on request, to all qualified individuals with disabilities, whether or not such individuals are passengers or simply using the airport facility for other reasons (e.g., meeting a friend, purchasing a ticket for a future flight, etc.)

QUESTION: I understand that part 382 requires airlines to provide wheelchair enplaning assistance, on request. I need wheelchair assistance getting from the curb, at the entrance to the airport, to the airplane. Are carriers required to provide wheelchair service from the curb to the airplane or only from the ticket counter to the airplane?

ANSWER: Part 382 requires carriers to provide wheelchair enplaning help, on request, from the curb to the airplane on departure, and from the airplane back out to the curb upon arrival. However, carriers are not required to station employees at the curb to await the arrival of passengers with disabilities. Therefore, it is advisable to ask a friend or a cab driver to help in getting the attention of carrier personnel in the terminal to obtain the required assistance if the carrier does not have curb-side attendants. If requested, after your flight arrives at your destination, the carrier must also assist you in claiming your checked luggage before assisting you in a wheelchair to the curb. [Sec. 382.39]

QUESTION: Are airlines allowed to charge for providing services to passengers with disabilities?

ANSWER: Airlines are not allowed to charge passengers for providing services or accommodations required by part 382, but may charge for optional services or accommodations. Examples of required services for which carriers may not charge are assistance with enplaning, deplaning, and making flight connections, and the carriage of assistive devices (including the provision of hazardous materials packaging for wheelchair batteries, when appropriate). Examples of optional services for which carriers may charge are the provision of in-flight medical oxygen and stretcher service. [Sec. 382.57]

QUESTION: I was flying a U.S. carrier from New York to California and they damaged my expensive battery-powered wheelchair. I purchased this wheelchair last year for $10,000. The repair cost was $3,000. Can the carrier limit the amount of money they pay me for this claim to $2,800, as they currently may for domestic baggage claims?

ANSWER: No. On claims involving damage to assistive devices on domestic flights, carriers may not invoke the liability limit applicable to baggage claims. The criterion for calculating the compensation for lost or damaged wheelchairs and other assistive devices is the original purchase price of the device. In this instance, the carrier should pay you or the repair company $3,000 provided that you can document the initial purchase price of the wheelchair and the cost of the repair. You may also be entitled to reimbursement for the cost of a loaner or rental wheelchair while yours is being repaired. [Sec. 382.43]

QUESTION: I’m flying from Cleveland to Chicago on ABC Airlines and then connecting on XYZ Airlines on a flight from Chicago to Seattle. I need wheelchair assistance to reach my connecting gate. Which carrier is responsible for providing this wheelchair assistance to the connecting gate?

ANSWER: As the delivering carrier, ABC Airlines is required to provide you with the requested wheelchair assistance in reaching your connecting gate, at which point XYZ Airlines is then responsible for providing you with assistance in enplaning onto your connecting flight. The delivering carrier must assist you in reaching your connecting gate even if you are traveling on two separate tickets and the connecting flight is departing from a different terminal within the same airport. However, you should make the need for such assistance clear to ABC Airlines before the flight, if possible. [Sec. 382.39]

QUESTION: On aircraft that must have a priority stowage space in the cabin for my personal folding wheelchair, do I still get priority stowage for my folding wheelchair if the pilot happens to have his personal belongings in that space when I pre-board?

ANSWER: Yes. Your personal folding wheelchair takes priority over the personal carry-on items of the pilot and crew. [Sec. 382.41(e)(2)]

QUESTION: I fly with my service animal and normally ask for a bulkhead seat, as it provides a little bit more room for my service dog. On a recent flight, the carrier would not allow me to sit in the bulkhead row with my service animal because the bulkhead row was also an emergency exit row. Was the carrier correct in asking me to take a seat other than a bulkhead seat in the emergency exit row?

ANSWER: Yes. The carrier was within its rights to refuse to permit you to sit in the bulkhead seat with your service animal, because the service animal may have blocked access to the emergency exit. Carriers must comply with all applicable FAA safety rules, even when attempting to accommodate the needs of passengers with disabilities. In such instances, the carrier should permit you and your service animal to move to another seat within the cabin that is not located in an emergency exit row that best accommodates your needs. [Sec. 382.37]

QUESTION: Is obesity considered a disability under the ACAA and, if so, is an obese passenger entitled to two seats for the price of one if he or she needs more than one seat?

ANSWER: Obesity in and of itself is not necessarily a qualifying disability. However, obesity could be a qualifying disability if, for example, it substantially limits a major life activity, such as walking. If an obese passenger – whether the passenger is a qualified individual with a disability or not – occupies more than one seat, airlines may charge that passenger for the number of seats the passenger occupies. Also, there may be certain obese persons who are too heavy to be safely accommodated on certain aircraft, e.g., because of safety limitations on seatbelts. [Secs. 382.5 and 382.38(i)]

QUESTION: I require medical oxygen when I travel by air. Are airlines required to provide in-flight medical oxygen and, if so, may they charge passengers for providing medical oxygen?

ANSWER: Although many of the major U.S. carriers currently provide in-flight medical oxygen for a fee, part 382 does not require them to do so. Those carriers that choose to provide in-flight medical oxygen may charge passengers for this service, just as they may for other optional services, such as stretcher service. [Sec. 382.33]

QUESTION: I’m a paraplegic and travel with my personal manual wheelchair. May airlines require me to travel with an attendant?

ANSWER: Airlines may not require a passenger with a mobility impairment to travel with an attendant if that passenger can physically assist in his or her evacuation. Since, in most instances, paraplegics have use of their arms and upper bodies, they can usually physically assist in their evacuation and generally should not be required to travel with an attendant. To the contrary, quadriplegics with no use of their arms or legs can be required to fly with an attendant. [Sec. 382.35]

QUESTION: I’m deaf and want to make sure that I receive important information such as schedule changes, gate changes, etc. Do the airlines have to provide me with such information?

ANSWER: Yes. Part 382 requires carriers to provide passengers who are deaf or hard of hearing or who have vision impairments with timely access to the same information that they provide to other passengers in the airport terminal or on the aircraft. Persons who are unable to obtain this information from the audio or visual systems used by carriers may have to advise the carrier about the nature of their disability, at which point the carrier must ensure that such individuals receive the necessary information in an accessible manner. [Sec. 382.45]

QUESTION: Can things other than wheelchairs or canes be assistive devices? What exactly does part 382 mean when it refers to assistive devices?

ANSWER: Assistive devices under Part 382 are not limited to mobility devices such as wheelchairs, walkers, and canes. An assistive device can be any piece of equipment that assists passengers with a disability in carrying out a major life activity. Such devices are those devices or equipment used to assist a passenger with a disability in caring for himself or herself, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, working, or performing other functions of daily life. Assistive devices may include medical devices and medications.

QUESTION: How can I find out information on the number and types of disability-related complaints filed with DOT against specific airlines?

ANSWER: DOT’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division publishes a monthly Air Travel Consumer Report (ATCR) which provides information on the number of disability-related complaints received each month by DOT. The ATCR can be accessed at http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov. In addition, an amendment to DOT’s disability rule (part 382) that came into effect on August 7, 2003, requires U.S. and foreign airlines operating passenger-carrying flights to and from the United States with aircraft having a designed seating capacity of more than 60 seats to report annually to DOT on the number and type of written disability-related complaints that they receive. These individual carrier reports will contain summary information on the number of such complaints, the type of disability, and the nature of the complaint. The first such report, which covers written complaints received by the airlines during calendar year 2004, was due by January 25, 2005. DOT intends to provide a summary report to Congress, which will be available to the public. [Section 382.70]

QUESTION: I travel with a service animal and ask for a bulkhead seat if one is available, as I find such a seat to be more comfortable for my service dog. How come some passengers with service animals avoid the bulkhead row?

ANSWER: It is DOT’s understanding that some service animals are trained to curl up underneath a non-bulkhead row airline seat, whereas other service animals are more comfortable in the area between a bulkhead seat and the bulkhead wall itself. For this reason, when DOT amended part 382 to require seating accommodations for passengers traveling with service animals, it required carriers to provide either a seat in a bulkhead row or a seat other than a bulkhead seat, depending on the individual passenger’s preference.

QUESTION: Are airlines allowed to require all passengers who are both deaf and blind to travel with an attendant?

ANSWER: No. Airlines may not have a policy that requires all passengers who are both deaf and blind to travel with an attendant. However, if an individual passenger has both a hearing and vision impairment so severe that the individual cannot establish some means of communicating with airline personnel sufficiently to receive the preflight safety briefing (e.g., using the “printing on palm” method of “writing” with your fingertip on the palm of the passenger’s hand, or using a “raised alphabet” card to communicate), an airline could require that individual to travel with an attendant. DOT recognizes that in many situations carrier personnel may have difficulty communicating with a passenger who is deaf and blind. Such determinations must be made on a case-by-case basis using an individualized assessment of the passenger’s specific capabilities.