New rights for disabled passengers

A new EU regulation comes into force on Saturday 26 July that requires airports to provide greater assistance to all disabled air passengers when travelling through Europe.

The legislation will make it the responsibility of airport operators to provide assistance not only for disabled people, but all travellers with reduced mobility, from arrival, to check in and through to departures and boarding. Previously this was the responsibility of both airports and airlines.

This new requirement forms the second part of The Regulation on Disabled Persons and Persons of Reduced Mobility. The first part came into effect in July 2007 and made it illegal for anyone to be unreasonably denied access to board a plane due to a disability.

Support for change
Leonard Cheshire Disability has campaigned for disabled air travellers to enjoy the same rights as anyone else when using airports and airlines. The Charity supports the new regulation as a step towards stamping out the lack of opportunity that disabled people experience in everyday life.

In a survey for Leonard Cheshire Disability’s Now Boarding campaign, over half (61%) of the respondents had experienced difficulties boarding a plane. And nearly three quarters of those disabled travellers (74%) felt that airport and airline staff did not always understand their impairment or know how to meet their needs.

Our Now Boarding campaign showed that disabled people are still facing barriers when using air travel, when they should enjoy the same opportunities that most of us take for granted.

We want to see air travel providers take this new directive seriously and equip their staff with the skills and understanding to support disabled customers. They need to ensure that disabled air travellers are satisfied with the journeys and feel confident to fly again.

Unlimited fines
Disabled passengers will now be able to raise their concerns with the Equality and Human Rights Commission to ensure the proper enforcement of the regulation. It will be responsible for the handling of passenger complaints. It can offer conciliation and support to people to take civil action or even refer the matters to the Civil Aviation Authority in the UK. The Civil Aviation Authority, in turn, will enforce the regulation and have the power to prosecute. If found guilty, the air operator could face an unlimited fine.

The regulation could also prove to be a key factor in the transformation of air travel customer relations. And with disabled people having the potential economic power to spend around US$160 billion (£80 billion), it means the air travel industry needs to react quickly and efficiently to the new changes.

Andy Wright, manager and owner of Accessible Travel & Leisure, one of the UK’s few specialist travel companies for disabled people, says, “I truly believe this is a positive step forward and any attempt to smooth the process and remove the anxiety for disabled travellers is wholeheartedly welcomed.

“With over 10 million registered disabled people living in the UK, and many others with mobility difficulties, this audience has been largely ignored over recent years, with as little as only two and a half million known to travel regularly. Therefore, I am hoping this new legislation will give confidence and enable the remaining seven and a half million to consider travelling overseas.”

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