New data shows that most airlines could be doing a much better job serving travelers with disabilities.
travel with a disabilitycan be challenging and , at times , airline contribute to make it even worse . The direction a specific aircraft carrier manage wheelchairs , for object lesson , is evidence — as is the customer military service and assistance provided in the event that a wheelchair or mobility gimmick is either lost or damaged .
Unfortunately , the numbers are n’t that outstanding . harmonize to theUS Department of Transportation ’s February 2023 Air Travel Consumer Report , 11,389 wheelchair were mishandle by US airlines in 2022 alone . That intend that those death chair were either delayed , missing , or broken , resulting in not only a fair amount of stress and a huge inconvenience for their users , but also in potential delays as well as the issue of property impairment .
So far , this year has n’t been better than the last and , if anything , the office seems to be getting bad . A quick Google hunting is enough to make you clear how vulgar this problem is . In April , adisabled adult female recite her experience on a JetBlue flightwhere her chair got destroyed and the airway ’s response fall curt of expectation . AMay 2023 Air Travel Consumer Reportwill evidence the point : Between January and March of this year , US airlines mishandled a aggregate of 2,547 wheelchairs and scooters , while the same catamenia last year count 2,028 similar incident .
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airline are being especially careless with wheelchairs . A fresh report by the nonprofitUSAFacts , which canvass US Department of Transportation data since 2019 , found that , when looking at mishandled checked suitcase and wheelchairs , wheelchairs are mishandled twice as often . To give you a quick estimation , in March , one in 175 checked pocketbook were reported as mishandled , while the proportion for wheelchairs was one in 65 .
The easiest result would be to work out the problem at its root , and permit owners to load their wheelchair or mobility financial aid onto the cabin instead of checking it like a bag . WhileDelta is currently developing a new seatthat would allow such a characteristic , the paradigm still needs to be certified and quiz , and it will be still a while before it is available on planer .
For now , one matter wheelchair and mobility aid drug user can do to assay and void potentially misconduct wheelchairs is to look at how well airline are perform in that subject according to data . fortuitously , the USAFacts report looked specifically at that as well , and came up with a ranking of the worst and best airlines depending on the percentage of wheelchairs mishandled as of March 2023 .
Of all the major US airline , Spirit was found to be by far the bad one , mishandling close to one out of 16 mobility aids . The bit is quite high , particularly when compared to the pace at which Spirit mishandled mark bags . According to the data , the bit of wheelchairs Spirit mishandled was 12 times high than the number of checker bag it mishandled .
On the insolent side , Delta was the best major US airline when it descend to handling wheelchair and mobility aids . According to the report , the airline only mishandled 0.7 % of them as of March .
Here ’s the all over USAFacts ranking , listed by the percentage of wheelchair bollocks ( worst to best ):
In monastic order to work out the stay problem , members of the executive and legislative sectors have late proposed further regulations . In March of last yr , Transportation SecretaryPete Buttigieg saidthat the section is lick to follow through raw rules that would ticket airlines who damage or delay their customer ' wheelchair . to boot , Buttigieg say that the new regulations would also comprise in better preparation for airline employees who handle wheelchair .
The good news show is that the government has reportedly been working on the issue in the more late past , starting from more elaborate coverage and accountability on the airlines ' part . In May 2023 , Senators Tammy Duckworth and John Thune and Representatives Steve Cohen and Pete Stauber introduced bipartizan legislating that would require airway to account both on how often mobility aids are damage and the severity of the damage itself .
