Disability and reduced mobility, ABC of airplane rights
Disability in Afghanistan, the report by Égalité
30 August 2022
Energy poverty and rationing, bonuses and rights of the disabled and the elderly
16 September 2022
The rights of persons with disabilities and those with reduced mobility to receive assistance in air transport correspond to specific duties of the airlines and airport managers.
However, the level of assistance is often unsatisfactory, as reported several times (1,2). It is therefore important to know the ABC of rights and how to exercise them, including for damages.
1) Introduction. How to ask for assistance
People with reduced mobility (PRM), or people with various disabilities and frailties, have the right to receive assistance to deal with air transport. To this end, they must:
- book assistance with the airline, based on the procedures established by each of them, and request confirmation, (3)
- show up at the airport well in advance of the scheduled time check-in (which in turn vary for national, international and intercontinental flights).
2) Arrival at the airport, movements, boarding
Assistance reduced mode people can be organized alternatively, at the request of the interested party, starting from:
- airport entrance,
- door of check-in,
- gate boarding (i.e. after checks).
Boarding PRMs precede those of other passengers. People in manual wheelchairs (even with an auxiliary electric motor) have the right to reach the aircraft door with their own vehicle. (4) They are then transferred to a narrow chair, provided by the airport, to reach the place.
3) Disembarkation from the plane
Passenger disembarkation with reduced mobility follows that of all other passengers, with the justification of privacy of the former. Rather, it is an unacceptable discrimination that often forces disabled people to miss connections with other flights, causing them enormous inconvenience, as has already been pointed out in vain (1,2).
The wheelchair manual - together with the motor (trike) auxiliary - must be returned immediately after the exit, to the aircraft door. You must not compromise on this right, you must not renounce the return of your 'replacement legs'.
4) Wheelchair at the doors of the plane, an inalienable right
Should the wheelchair and / or his moped (trike) auxiliary and / or walker are not ready, during disembarkation, in front of the aircraft door, the person with disabilities has the indisputable right to refuse to disembark from the aircraft until it is effectively returned. (5)
5) Complaint and actions for compensation
In the event of non-compliance of their rights, the person with reduced mobility and / or the disabled can:
- submit a complaint, as per the attached EU form,
- take legal action for compensation of all damages, against the airline which is also responsible for ground operations. (6)
6) Speculation and responsibility
Assistance services people with disabilities and people with reduced mobility are financed with the quotas withheld for this purpose on the prices of air tickets, in accordance with the provisions in force. (7)
The deplorable conditions in which there are many waiting rooms and bathrooms reserved for people with disabilities and people with reduced mobility, in addition to inefficiencies, however, make it doubtful that the sums collected for this purpose will be diverted elsewhere.
The responsability greater falls on ENAC (National Agency for Civil Aviation) which should carry out the checks but with its starvation becomes complicit in the serious inefficiencies to the detriment of the most vulnerable consumers.
Dario Dongo
Programme
Air passenger rights. EU complaint form, pursuant to reg. EU 261/04
Note
(1) Assistance to the disabled in airports and airplanes. Letter to the President of ENAC, 23.8.19
(2) Air transport, disability and discrimination, 29.10.21
(3) Each airline has its own procedure, indicated on its website, which generally provides for the possibility of booking assistance through the website itself, email and / or toll-free number. NB: some companies ask for the completion of detailed forms on the assistance requested, often used as a pretext to try to escape their responsibilities
(4) The electric scooters to assist manual wheelchairs, cd trikes (eg Triride, Klaxon Klick, Bate, etc.) can be led up to the aircraft door to be loaded in the hold, together with the manual wheelchair. , in a special container separate from that of the luggage. Instead, the battery must be placed in the parcel shelf. Lithium-ion (Li-Io) batteries must not exceed 300Wh
(5) The decision of the person entitled to remain on the aircraft until the actual return of the disability aids may result in the flight being delayed. But it is only in this way that the ground crew is forced to find the wheelchairs, trikes and walkers otherwise lost among the luggage and thrown on the belts, perhaps even damaged.
(6) It is in fact the airline that decides which company to turn to for ground services. And saving is unfortunately the dominant criterion of choice
(7) ENAC (National Civil Aviation Authority). Procedures for the annual definition of the PRM fee and consultation procedure between the operator and users. Guidelines 9.8.18, LG 2018-001
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
