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Towards increased rights for disabled air passengers
The European Disability Forum regularly receives information by our members about discrimination experienced when travelling – or trying to travel – by air. The reported discrimination relate to everything from denied boarding or booking because you are disabled, no or unsatisfactory assistance, charging for assistance or undignified treatment, to damaged or lost mobility equipment that is not being reimbursed.
Increased competition due to the opening up of the market of the air industry has not only had a positive effect for disabled people – lower prices has all too often meant low quality travel, and even discrimination, particularly of disabled people.
Until recently there was no binding legislation at European Union level that protected air passengers against abuses of this kind by the industry.
A first regulation, establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights, was adopted in February 2004 [1]. Through this regulation the legislators recognize that air operators shall meet the needs of disabled people and their assistants in those situations. This implies, for example, ensuring that transport and hotel accommodation is accessible.
A second regulation was adopted in July 2006, establishing a set of specific rights for passengers with disabilities.
The outcome is basically a real success-story. The basic principles of this regulation are:
- Disabled people should not be denied boarding or booking;
- Disabled people should receive seamless assistance at no additional charge. The responsibility for the provision of the assistance lies within the hands of the managing body of the airport;
- All staff dealing directly with the traveling public must receive disability-awareness and disability equality training.
However, there is a loophole within the legislation. The regulation actually opens up a possibility for air carriers to deny boarding of disabled people for “safety reasons” established by International, European or National law. The latter possibility seriously weakens the regulation, as this means that different laws might be adopted in different countries, leading to a situation where a disabled person might be accepted to fly out from his or her country, but not back. EDF fears that this possibility to establish national legislation could be used in an arbitrary way as lack of knowledge about disability is the most common reason for denied boarding today. Very often, air carriers claim that a disabled person is a safety risk just because they lack knowledge about what disability really is.
EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) will shortly launch a tender for research on the possible restrictions of passengers with disabilities due to safety reasons. Once published, the tender will be available at the website of the European Aviation Safety Agency.
[1] (EC) No 261/2004, Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation of flights.
Questions and answers – what’s in the regulation on disabled air passengers for me?