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For more than 20 years, the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) has offered disabled travelers protection from discrimination. That protection was further strengthened this month, when the Department of Transportation (DOT) amended this major piece of U.S. access legislation.

Changes include updated regulations that address new technology, the clarification of foreign air carrier responsibilities, and the addition of new regulations for passengers who use portable oxygen concentrators (POC). The resulting document is easier to read and eliminates ambiguities. Highlights of changes that could affect passengers with mobility disabilities are listed below. They go into effect in May 2009.

• The new law legally extends coverage of the ACAA to all commercial flights to and from the U.S., including those operated by foreign air carriers. Additionally, it codifies access regulations for foreign air carriers.
• Foreign airlines operating flights to or from the U.S. must also ensure that disabled passengers can move through the terminal facilities at foreign airports.
• Foreign carriers are not required to retrofit existing aircraft for accessibility; however, they are required to include accessible lavatories, moveable armrests, on-board wheelchairs, and wheelchair storage space on new aircraft.
• Employees or contractors providing airport wheelchair assistance are required to make a brief restroom stop (upon request) if the restroom is located along the path of travel to the gate. 
• The law was edited to require the “prompt” deplaning of disabled passengers. The DOT further defined the term prompt as meaning that an aisle chair should be available no later than as soon as the other passengers have deplaned. 
• The law also requires airlines to allow the on-board use of all FAA-approved POCs, ventilators, respirators, and CPAP machines. 
• The DOT changed the terminology from “attendant” to “safety assistant” in the section dealing with unaccompanied travel. Additionally, the criteria for unaccompanied travel was further defined for passengers with mobility disabilities as someone who is able to “physically” assist in their own evacuation. The previous wording was sometimes interpreted to mean that verbal direction was sufficient.
• The law specifies the dimensions of the priority wheelchair storage space as being 13 inches by 36 inches by 42 inches. 
• Service animals are still not allowed to obstruct areas covered by FAA approved safety regulations; however, if the animal won’t fit at the assigned seat location, the airline must offer the passenger the opportunity to move to any open seat in the same class, that can safely accommodate the animal.
• On flights over eight hours, airlines can require passengers with service animals to provide documentation that the animal won’t have to relieve itself, or that it can relieve itself in a way that won’t create a health or sanitation issue on the flight.
• Airlines are required to provide physical help to disabled passengers at inaccessible ticket kiosks. 
• Finally, the new law stopped short of requiring airline Web sites to be accessible; however, it requires airlines to offer disabled passengers web-only fares that appear on inaccessible websites, by phone or another accessible reservation method.
  

Candy Harrington is the editor of Emerging Horizons and the author of Barrier Free Travel: A Nuts and Bolts Guide For Wheelers and Slow Walkers. She blogs regularly about accessible travel issues at www.BarrierFreeTravels.com.