U.S. DOT Volpe Center Human Factors Study Informs Rule for Air Travelers with Disabilities
For the estimated 5.5 million Americans who use a wheelchair, travel by air can be a significant challenge with the risk of damage to their wheelchair or injury during enplaning and deplaning. To address these challenges, the U.S. DOT recently issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to improve the safety and dignity of airline passengers who use wheelchairs, Ensuring Safe Accommodations for Air Travelers with Disabilities Using Wheelchairs. The rule is a priority for the Biden-Harris Administration, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, and advocates for those with disabilities, and it would represent the “largest expansion of rights for airline passengers who use wheelchairs since 2008.” In February 2024, at a public announcement for the proposed rule, Secretary Buttigieg was joined at the White House by Assistant to the President and White House Office of Public Engagement Director Stephen Benjamin, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, advocates for people with disabilities, aviation workers, and other stakeholders for a fireside chat and town hall.
The need to address the disability community’s concerns was emphasized by hundreds of people who participated in the U.S. DOT’s Public Meeting on Air Travel by Persons Who Use Wheelchairs, held virtually in 2022, and the many others who submitted written comments to the meeting's docket. An individual from the disability community commented during the public meeting that he did not believe a rule of this nature would be proposed in his lifetime.
The proposed rule addresses a critical need in aviation accessibility for passengers who fly with a wheelchair or scooter and/or require transfer assistance by requiring hands-on recurrent training for personnel who perform these functions. The Office of Aviation Consumer Protections collects data on wheelchair mishandlings. During the last month of 2023, almost 1,000 wheelchairs and scooters were reported as mishandled by carriers, per the BTS December 2023 Air Travel Consumer Report. In 2023, 11,527 wheelchairs and scooters were mishandled by carriers that are required to report this data to the U.S. DOT, according to U.S. DOT in February 2024. Passengers also faced the risk of injury that can occur from being without their wheelchairs due to mishandling or delays that can occur during improper physical transfer assistance.
The proposed rulemaking would require airlines operating aircraft of 60 seats or greater to expand the implementation of onboard wheelchairs that meet a set of enhanced performance requirements found in the Accessible Lavatories on Single-Aisle Aircraft (RIN 2105-AE89) rule; require carriers to provide individuals with disabilities safe and dignified assistance, including prompt connecting, enplaning, and deplaning assistance; require airlines to notify passengers when their wheelchair has been loaded or unloaded onto aircraft or if the wheelchair is not able to be loaded; and provides remedies when carriers mishandle or delay wheelchairs and assistive devices, including making such mishandlings a per se regulatory violation subject to administrative penalties, requiring airlines to notify passengers of their rights in the event of any mishandling, and requiring airlines to provide loaner wheelchair accommodations.
A multidisciplinary team of experts at the U.S. DOT Volpe Center informed the development of the proposed rule, the regulatory analysis, and other research included in the rulemaking docket. U.S. DOT Volpe Center economists provided expertise for the rulemaking effort by conducting a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA), which is a systemic approach to critically assessing the positive and negative effects of proposed regulations. Activities of the U.S. DOT Volpe Center team included interviews, a literature review, public data collection, and an economic analysis of the provisions including a benefit-cost analysis. U.S. DOT Volpe Center transportation human factors experts conducted a literature review of wheelchair handling and physical transfer assistance procedures in aviation and associated training, and documented current policies and procedures at airlines, major organizations, and academic centers that are involved with air travel for wheelchair users. The final product informed the rulemaking language in terms of the components of the training required, as well as informing the RIA.
The NPRM was published in the Federal Register on March 12, 2024; the public comment period closed June 13, 2024. U.S. DOT is currently reviewing the NPRM comments, and future action on this rulemaking will be announced in winter 2024.
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