Changes to Air Travel Regulations

By Cheryl Heppner

Editor: Here's Cheryl's report on the changes to air travel regulations that took effect last month. Frankly I'm disappointed. It looks to me like the regulations make it HARDER for people with hearing loss, rather than easier. But, as Cheryl notes, she continues to fight for improved access.

You may share this report, but please be sure to credit NVRC. See credit at the end of the article.

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On May 13, 2009 the Air Carrier Access Act's (ACAA) new regulations went into effect. The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network coalition is working on a consumer fact sheet about the regulations that will be made available to the public.

Here is a very brief summary of some of the changes:

- For the first time, the ACAA goes beyond the Americans with Disabilities Act and covers temporary disabilities.

- Passengers traveling with a service animal on flights longer than 8 hours, and passengers with both severe vision and hearing disabilities, must give 48 hours advance notice and check in one hour before the general public check in time.

- Passengers with both severe hearing and vision impairments may be required to travel with a safety assistant if they cannot communicate with personnel adequately to understand safety instructions and be able to safely evacuate the aircraft on their own.

- Air carriers must offer equal access to information and services through TTY or relay and the service must be free, available for the same hours, and publicized any place where their telephone number is listed.

- All airports must have relief areas for service animals and passengers traveling with a service animal must be given a bulkhead or non-bulkhead seat on the plane as requested.

- All public areas of a terminal must have captioning turned on at all times on TVs or have displays that are able to display captions; new or replacement TVs or displays must have high-contrast captioning capability.

- On board the plane, effective communication must be provided so deaf or hard of hearing passengers have "timely" access to information such as weather, on-board services, flight delays and connecting gates.

I have been working with other consumer advocates for more than 11 years to improve air travel access. Many of the things we have fought for were not included in the new regulations.

A major example is that if you are deaf or hard of hearing you must still "self-identify" to receive services such as notice when it is time to board or information being broadcast on the plane. This means that you must tell airport and airline employees that you are deaf or have a hearing loss each place where you need access - curbside or regular check-in, at the gate, on the plane, in the baggage area, etc. We already know that this doesn't work and must continue to push to make air travel accessible through visual displays of information and other simple but effective methods. We also know these methods help everyone; witness the number of people who cannot hear the PA system in an airport and flock to the screens showing departure, arrival, and baggage location for their flight.

Other things that are missing include access to in-flight entertainment and accessible options for phones throughout the airport which connect to hotels, transportation and other services.

I will continue to meet with officials in the Department of Transportation to pursue these improvements.

To compare the old Air Carrier Access Act with the new one, visit this website: http://www.swdbtac.org/html/topical/aircarrier/index.html

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