Air Carrier Access Act Technical Assistance Manual (2005)

C. Boarding and Deplaning Assistance

If a passenger with a disability requests assistance getting on or off an airplane or you offer assistance and the passenger consents to the type of boarding or deplaning assistance you offer, you must provide such assistance. [Sec. 382.39(a)] The type of assistance you must offer includes, as needed, services personnel and the use of wheelchairs, ramps, or mechanical lifts. [Sec. 382.39(a)(1)]

Keep in mind, however, that a wheelchair is not required or desired in all cases. A wheelchair may not be an appropriate assistive device in a particular situation. For example, a passenger with vision impairment may need a sighted guide, not a wheelchair.

Carriers must train employees to proficiency in the use of the boarding assistance equipment and procedures regarding the safety and dignity of passengers receiving boarding assistance. [Secs. 382.40(d) and 382.40a(d)] Therefore, regardless of the size of the aircraft, you should know how to use mechanical boarding assistance devices and the appropriate procedures for providing boarding assistance.

In addition, you should be aware that when level-entry boarding is not required or if a lift is temporarily not functioning, you must obtain the consent of the passenger with a disability to the means of boarding assistance. [Sec. 382.40(c)(5)] Therefore, in such situations, you should present the various options and provide only the type of boarding assistance to which the passenger consents. If the passenger does not consent to the available means of boarding assistance, you should contact a CRO.

You cannot leave a passenger in a boarding wheelchair or other device in which the passenger is not independently mobile for more than 30 minutes. [Sec. 382.39(a)(3)]

Carriers must provide access to the airplane for a passenger with a disability by a level-entry loading bridge or accessible passenger lounges where these means are available. [Sec. 382.39(a)(2)] But depending on the size of the aircraft, carriers have different obligations to provide boarding assistance to individuals with a disability using mechanical lifts, ramps, or other suitable devices that do not require you to physically lift or carry passengers up stairs. [Secs. 382.40 and 382.40a]

Boarding and Deplaning Assistance Where Level-Entry Boarding is Unavailable

For aircraft with 19 or more seats operating at airports with 10,000 or more annual enplanements where level-entry boarding is not available [Secs. 382.40(a) and 382.40a(a)], carriers must provide boarding assistance to passengers with a disability using mechanical lifts, ramps, or other suitable devices that do not require you to physically lift or carry passengers up stairs. [Secs. 382.40(b) and 382.40a(b)] In addition, carriers may require that a passenger seeking boarding assistance by use of a lift check in for the flight one hour before the scheduled departure time. [Secs. 382.40(c)(3) and 382.40a(c)(3)] You must make a reasonable effort to accommodate the passenger and provide the boarding assistance by lift even if the passenger does not check in one hour before the scheduled departure time, as long as it would not delay the flight.

Boarding assistance by mechanical lift is not required in the following situations:

• on aircraft with fewer than 19 seats;

• on float planes;

• on the following 19-seat capacity aircraft models that are unsuitable for boarding assistance by lift: the Fairchild Metro, the Jetstream 31, and the Beech 1900 (C and D Models);

• on any other 19-seat aircraft model determined by DOT to be unsuitable for boarding assistance by lift; [Sec. 382.40(c)(4)]; or

• on any widebody aircraft determined by DOT to be unsuitable for boarding assistance by lift, ramp, or other device.

If boarding assistance by lift is not required (as set forth above) or it cannot be provided for reasons beyond the control of the carrier, e.g., the mechanical lift is not functioning, then boarding assistance must be provided by any available means, except physically hand-carrying the passenger. Hand-carrying is defined as directly picking up the passenger’s body in the arms of one or more carrier personnel to effect a change of level that the passenger needs to enter or leave the aircraft. [Sec. 382.39(a)(2)]

Except in an Emergency Evacuation, No Hand-Carrying Passengers

Under no circumstances – except for emergency evacuations – should you physically pick up a passenger with a disability to provide boarding or deplaning assistance. [Sec. 382.39(a)(2)]

Example: A woman asks for assistance in boarding a flight with 30 seats. General boarding for passengers is by a set of stairs on the tarmac. When she arrives at the gate and asks for boarding assistance, she is provided a boarding wheelchair, but you inform her that the mechanical lift is out of order. The passenger tells you to physically pick her up and carry her up the stairs and onto the plane because she really needs to make the flight. What should you do?

Under the law, you must not physically hand-carry the passenger onto the plane. Hand-carrying is only appropriate in the case of an emergency evacuation. Even though the law states that the passenger must consent to the type of boarding assistance and she has requested to be hand carried, you must not hand-carry her onto the aircraft. Instead, you should contact a CRO for advice about options for alternative means of boarding the passenger, e.g., carrying the boarding wheelchair, with the passenger in it, up the stairs and onto the plane. Next, you and the CRO should explain to the passenger that, under the law, you are not permitted to physically hand-carry her onto the plane. In addition, you should explore other available options for assisting this passenger with boarding the aircraft, including carrying the passenger onto the plane in a boarding wheelchair or arranging for another flight with a working lift or a jet bridge. If the passenger consents to being carried onto the plane in the boarding wheelchair, you may do so. Regardless, you should notify the appropriate personnel that the mechanical lift is not functioning properly and arrange for repair as quickly as possible.