Now, the Biden Administration has proposed tough new standards for how airlines treat and accommodate people in wheelchairs.
“There are millions of Americans with disabilities who do not travel by plane because of inadequate airline practices and inadequate government regulation, but now we are setting out to change that,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in an announcement outlining the proposed rule.An estimated 5.5 million Americans use a wheelchair, the U.S. Department of Transportation said. In 2023, 11,527 wheelchairs and scooters were lost, delayed, damaged or stolen by airlines.
This new proposal follows a rule finalized last September that requires new single-aisle airplanes to be designed with handicapped-accessible bathrooms. The United agreement was prompted by an incident in which a passenger died after her customized wheelchair was damaged during a cross-country flight.