What Airline Employees, Airline Contractors, and Air Travelers with Disabilities Need to Know About Access to Air Travel for Persons with Disabilities A Guide to the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) and its implementing regulations, 14 CFR Part 382 (Part 382) Table of Contents Chapter 1: Understanding How to Use this Manual 1 A. Introduction 1 B. Background 2 C. Keyword Definitions 8 Chapter 2: Learning the Basics about the Law Protecting Air Travelers with Disabilities 15 Chapter 3: Assisting Air Travelers with Disabilities Planning a Trip 27 A. Advance Notice 27 B. Information about the Aircraft 31 C. Mobility Aids and Assistive Devices 32 D. Service Animals 33 E. Accommodations for Air Travelers who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, or Deaf-Blind 37 F. Communicable Diseases 37 G. Medical Certificates: When are they Allowed? 39 H. Your Obligation to Provide Services and Equipment 42 I. Attendants 44 Chapter 4: Assisting Air Travelers with Disabilities at the Airport 45 A. Accessibility of Terminal Facilities and Services 45 B. Security Screenings for Air Travelers with a Disability 46 C. Air Travelers with a Disability Changing Planes 47 D. Accommodations for Air Travelers who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, or Deaf-Blind 48 E. Attendants 50 Chapter 5: Assisting Air Travelers with Disabilities Boarding, Deplaning, and During the Flight 54 A. Aircraft Accessibility 54 B. Seating Assignments and Accommodations 56 C. Boarding and Deplaning Assistance 66 D. Stowing and Treatment of Personal Equipment 70 E. Services in the Cabin 77 F. Safety Briefings 79 i Chapter 6: Assisting Air Travelers with Disabilities with Their Complaints 82 A. Complaint Procedures and Complaints Resolution Officials (CRO’s) 82 B. Process to Resolve Complaints 86 C. General Complaint Resolution Tips 89 D. Recording, Categorizing, and Reporting Written Disability-related Complaints Received by Carriers 90 Chapter 7: Interacting with People with Disabilities 91 Indices Alphabetical Index 108 Part 382 Index 115 Appendices I. Tips for Air Travelers with Disabilities 120 II. Airline Management-Related Issues 129 III. Frequently Asked Questions 144 IV. Recent DOT Enforcement Orders Related to the ACAA 154 V. 14 CFR Part 382 159 VI. DOT Guidance Concerning Service Animals in Air Transportation 176 ii Chapter 1: Understanding How to Use this Manual A. Introduction B. Background C. Keyword Definitions A. Introduction Purpose of the Manual This manual is a guide to the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) and its implementing regulations, 14 CFR part 382 (part 382). It is designed to serve as a brief but authoritative source of information about the services, facilities, and accommodations required by the ACAA and the provisions of part 382. The manual does not expand air carriers’ legal obligations or establish new requirements under the law. It contains suggested practices and procedures for carriers to use on a voluntary basis to implement Part 382. The primary purpose of the manual is to help you, employees/contractors of air carriers and employees/contractors of indirect air carriers that provide services or facilities to passengers with disabilities, to assist those passengers in accordance with the law. Knowing your legal responsibilities will help ensure consistent compliance with the law and protect the civil rights of air travelers with disabilities when providing services, facilities, and accommodations to them. Throughout the manual, rather than talking about air carriers' or indirect air carriers' employees/contractors such as yourself in the third person, the word “you” is used. In most instances, the word “you” refers to personnel who deal directly with the traveling 1 public. Moreover, the obligations and responsibilities under the law as set forth in the manual must be read within the context of each specific employee’s duties on the job. A second purpose of this manual is to offer air travelers with disabilities information about their rights under the ACAA and the provisions of part 382. Accordingly, in addition to the other useful information in this manual, Appendix I contains a list of “Tips for Air Travelers with Disabilities” to help ensure a smooth and comfortable trip. In addition, Appendix III provides a list of “Frequently Asked Questions” and answers and Appendix IV contains a list of “Recent DOT Enforcement Orders Related to the ACAA.” These DOT enforcement orders are useful because they provide examples in which DOT has interpreted some of the provisions of the ACAA and part 382 under particular circumstances. B. Background U.S. Air Carriers In 1986, Congress passed the ACAA, which prohibits discrimination by U.S. air carriers against qualified individuals with disabilities. 49 U.S.C. 41705. In 1990, the Department of Transportation (DOT) issued part 382, the regulations defining the rights of passengers with disabilities and the obligations of U.S. air carriers under the ACAA. Since then, these regulations have been amended a number of times. DOT has also issued guidance to air carriers on the ACAA and part 382 in a variety of ways: preambles to regulatory amendments, industry letters, correspondence with individual carriers or complainants, enforcement actions, website postings, and informal conversations with the public and air carriers. 2 Foreign Air Carriers On April 5, 2000, the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century (“AIR-21”; Pub. L. 106-181) amended the ACAA to cover foreign air carriers. Although a final rule modifying part 382 to cover foreign air carriers has not yet been issued, in May 2000 DOT’s Office of the Assistant General Counsel for Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings (Enforcement Office) issued a notice informing the public of its intent to use the provisions of part 382 as guidance in investigating any complaints of non-compliance with the ACAA by foreign carriers. In addition, in July 2003 DOT amended part 382 by adding a new section, 382.70, that requires both U.S. carriers and foreign carriers to record and report to DOT on written disability-related complaints that they receive. At the present time, section 382.70 is the only provision of part 382 that specifically states that it applies to foreign carriers. Finally, a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) proposing to extend the other provisions of part 382 to foreign carriers was published on November 4, 2004. Therefore, while the majority of this manual does not expressly apply to foreign carriers, they should look to this document and part 382 in satisfying their general nondiscrimination obligations under AIR-21 and DOT’s May 2000 guidance. Development of Technical Assistance Manual In 2000, Congress required DOT to create a technical assistance manual to provide guidance to individuals and entities with rights or responsibilities under the ACAA. This manual responds to that mandate. In creating this manual, DOT held meetings with representatives from the disability community, air carriers, and organizations that contract with air carriers to provide disability-related services. Those who attended the 3 meetings made suggestions for this manual. All of these suggestions have been thoroughly considered by DOT and incorporated where appropriate. ACCESS A step-by-step process for resolving issues involving passengers with disabilities appears later in this manual. Whether the issue is a matter of law, customer service, or both, the ACCESS checklist will be useful in identifying the needs of passengers with disabilities and determining what accommodations the air carriers are required to provide as a matter of law. See Chapter 6, section B. How to use this Manual This manual is structured in the same sequence as the steps a passenger would encounter on a trip, i.e., requirements concerning • planning a flight, • the airport experience, • enplaning, deplaning, and making connections, • services during a flight, and • responding to disability-related complaints. This manual contains the following tools to assist you in quickly and easily finding the answer to your questions: • A Table of Contents at the beginning of the manual; • An Alphabetical Index at the back of the manual; and • A part 382 Index listing the citations to part 382 at the back of the manual. 4 Also, the following appendices appear at the end of the manual: • Appendix I: “Tips for Air Travelers with Disabilities” as they relate to the most commonly-used accommodations, facilities, and services that carriers are required to make available to such passengers; • Appendix II: a list of concerns applicable mainly to air carrier management, as opposed to frontline customer service personnel; • Appendix III: a list of “Frequently Asked Questions” and answers; • Appendix IV: a list of “Recent DOT Enforcement Orders Related to the ACAA”; • Appendix V: the full text of part 382; and • Appendix VI: the DOT document “Guidance Concerning Service Animals in Air Transportation.” Themes of this Manual Legal Requirements and Customer Service This manual highlights the difference between actions you must take according to the law as stated in part 382 and actions that you may choose to take in an effort to provide superior customer service to passengers with disabilities. Legal requirements are generally designated by the words, “must” or “shall” in the manual. Words such as “should” or “may” indicate accommodations that part 382 does not require but that DOT recommends and that you may decide to provide as a matter of good customer service. Safety 5 Where applicable, this manual discusses how to properly and lawfully consider aircraft and passenger safety when providing transportation to passengers with disabilities. Part 382 does not require or authorize you to disregard FAA safety regulations. Where different treatment of passengers with disabilities or other restrictions are mandated by an FAA safety regulation, part 382 allows you to comply with the FAA safety regulation. For example, if an FAA safety rule provides that only persons who can perform certain functions can sit in an exit row, then you can request that an individual unable to perform those functions (regardless of whether that individual has a disability) sit in another row. If the passenger refuses, you can properly deny transportation to such passengers. However, where an optional carrier action that is not required by FAA rules would result in different treatment of passengers with disabilities, or in other restrictions, then the ACAA and the provisions of part 382 prohibit you from implementing the optional carrier action even if it might ensure safety. For instance, suppose ABC Airways required only passengers with disabilities – not all passengers – to provide correct answers to a quiz about the content of a safety briefing and a passenger with a disability either refused to respond or failed such a quiz. It would not be appropriate to deny transportation to a passenger with a disability on such grounds unless the carrier’s policies and procedures consistently treated all passengers in a similar manner. In short, part 382 is consistent with FAA safety requirements as it allows you to follow FAA safety rules and to ensure that the safe completion of the flight or the health and safety of other passengers are not jeopardized. Determinations about whether an FAA rule requires different treatment of a passenger with a disability for safety reasons often 6 depend on the circumstances you encounter. Therefore, it is important that you seek information from passengers with disabilities and their traveling companions and make a reasonable judgment considering all available information. The FAA safety mandates can be found in the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR parts 60 through 139), FAA guidance interpreting these regulations, and Airworthiness Directives (see www.faa.gov, click on “Aircraft Guidance” and then click on “Airworthiness Directives”). Security This manual addresses security procedures, particularly those enacted after the terrorist hijackings and tragic events of September 11, 2001, which affect or may affect the types of accommodations and services provided to passengers with disabilities. Similar to the situation involving FAA safety requirements, part 382 is consistent with security requirements mandated by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). For example, TSA has strict rules as to which persons can go beyond the screener checkpoints, but these TSA rules are consistent with part 382 and do not invalidate your obligation to provide enplaning and deplaning assistance requested by passengers with disabilities, including assistance beyond screener checkpoints. You do have discretion in how that assistance is provided. You can provide (i) a “pass” allowing an individual who needs to assist a passenger with a disability to go through the screener checkpoint without a ticket; (ii) assistance directly to the passenger; or (iii) both. 7