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Air Carrier Access Act
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Under the Air Carrier Access Act and the U.S. Department of Transportation's Air Carrier Access Rules, air carriers must make available, if needed, properly trained service personnel who are knowledgeable on how to assist persons with a disability in boarding and exiting. In addition, equipment used for assisting passengers must be kept in good working condition.
Level boarding ramps or mobile lounges are usually used for boarding and exiting medium and large-size jet aircraft. Such equipment must be accessible. If ramps or mobile lounges are not used, then, on most flights using aircraft with 19 or more seats, a lifting device (other than a device used for freight) must be provided to assist persons with limited mobility safely on and off the aircraft. On flights on smaller aircraft, passengers with mobility impairments are generally carried up and down the aircraft's boarding stairs using a "boarding chair." Carriers are not permitted to hand-carry passengers on and off aircraft, i.e., to directly pick up a passenger's body in the arms of airline personnel.
In order to provide some personal assistance and extra time, the carrier may offer a passenger with a disability, or any passenger that may be in need of assistance, the opportunity to pre-board the aircraft. The passenger may accept or decline the offer. On connecting flights, the delivering carrier is responsible for providing assistance to the person with a disability in reaching his or her connecting flight.
Carriers may not leave a passenger unattended for more than 30 minutes in a ground wheelchair, boarding chair, or other device in which the passenger is not independently mobile. Copyright 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
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