Earlier this week, the U.S. Division of Transportation launched a last rule that can require airways to fulfill extra rigorous requirements for accommodating wheelchair customers and passengers with disabilities. This rule, along with the historic $50 million effective levied towards American Airways for mistreatment of disabled flyers, will likely be key items of Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s legacy on the Division of Transportation.

On Tuesday, the Secretary held an occasion at DOT Headquarters in Washington, D.C. to debate the brand new rule, which will likely be efficient on January 16, 2025. You possibly can watch a recording of Sec. Buttigieg’s remarks right here:

Earlier this yr, I mentioned the proposed rule at nice size with readers of this text over a collection of Accessible Journey Chats which you’ll watch on YouTube on the following hyperlinks:

Some highlights of the ultimate rule, which you’ll learn it its entirety on the DOT web site, embrace the next:

• Publication of Info Associated to Plane Cargo Holds: Airways should present the related dimensions of the cargo holds for all plane sorts operated by the service on their web sites. (When you don’t wish to wait, take a look at my Listing of Airplane Cargo Door Dimensions on WheelchairTravel.org, which was revealed practically a decade in the past).
• Reimbursement of Fare Distinction: If a passenger touring with their very own wheelchair is required to guide a costlier flight than the one desired because of airplane cargo maintain dimensions, the service should reimburse the passenger for distinction in fare.
• Secure and Dignified Help Customary: Airways should present protected and dignified help to disabled passengers, with the rule defining “protected” as help that doesn’t put them at heightened threat of bodily harm, and “dignified” as help offered in a fashion that respects a passenger’s independence, autonomy, and privateness. I stay up for testing what the DOT considers to be violations of this rule.
• Enhanced Coaching for Airline Personnel and Contractors: The rule requires annual coaching, together with hands-on coaching, for airline workers and contractors who bodily help passengers with mobility disabilities or deal with passengers’ wheelchairs or scooters. All airline workers and contractors who present bodily help or deal with wheelchairs/scooters should obtain coaching no later than June 17, 2026.
• Rebuttable Presumption of a Violation for Mishandlings: The rule reinforces that airways should return all checked wheelchairs and assistive units to passengers within the situation through which they’re acquired. It specifies that each time a mobility system isn’t returned in the identical situation, there’s a rebuttable presumption that the airline mishandled the passenger’s wheelchair or different assistive system in violation of the Air Provider Entry Act (ACAA). Some airways have lately begun refusing to restore beauty injury to units (which is usually an indication of extra vital or structural injury), and this rule ought to render these insurance policies null and void. If I employed an organization to move my automotive and it arrived with scratches and dents, I’d anticipate to be compensated — the identical is true for airways mishandling my wheelchair!

I’m at the moment working to replace my Air Provider Entry Act Information with the revisions included on this last rule, and can warn you as soon as that has been accomplished.

The November election of Donald Trump because the forty seventh President of the US implies that Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s tenure on the DOT will finish in January. Following the formal nomination of his successor, I’ll assess Secretary Pete’s legacy and supply my ideas on the place accessible air journey coverage is more likely to go below the following administration (sneak peek: it’s unlikely to alter a lot, both for good or dangerous).