The Biden administration is proposing to make it easier for the government to fine airlines for damaging or misplacing wheelchairs by making it an automatic violation of federal law on accessible air travel.
The U.S. Transportation Department is also calling for airlines to provide annual training for employees who handle wheelchairs or lift passengers with disabilities.
This would be the biggest expansion of rights for passengers who use wheelchairs since 2008.
On Thursday, Angie Walker showed News4JAX her motorized wheelchair. She said she has heard and seen stories of airlines breaking wheelchairs in the past.
“They broke spokes. They broke the side of it,” Walker said.
READ | Airline Passengers with Disabilities Bill of Rights | Aviation Consumer Protection
Because of that, she said she doesn’t travel with hers.
“To be honest, it makes me feel like a second-class citizen,” Walker said. “If it happened to anyone else, they would be screaming and hollering and jumping.”
Walker works for CIL Jacksonville, an organization aiming to empower people with disabilities.
They work with businesses, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, and TSA on how to accommodate people with disabilities for travel.
Walker said airlines have made strides for wheelchair accessibility with preboarding.
But what good is it — when you find your wheelchair damaged?
The US Department of Transportation says an estimated 5.5 million Americans use a wheelchair and many face barriers when it comes to air travel. In 2023, more than 11,500 wheelchairs and scooters were mishandled by carriers required to report this data to the Department of Transportation.
There will be a 60-day period for public comment on the proposed rule. It’s not clear, however, when or if the proposal will ever become final. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg declined to provide a timetable when he briefed reporters.
COMMENTS? | Click here to file a comment on the proposal
Under the proposal, it would be easier for the Transportation Department to fine airlines up to roughly $125,000 if they damage a wheelchair or delay its return to the passenger at the end of a flight.
The proposal would give passengers the right to use their preferred vendor to repair or replace a damaged wheelchair - airlines are already required to cover the cost.
MORE | United Airlines will make changes for people with wheelchairs after a government investigation
Walker said it’s about time people started looking at the whole process of travel — and what this means for everyone.
“This is what I want people to understand… We are the minority that everyone at some point is going to end up being a part of,” Walker said. “By making these things a priority, then it’s just better business practice overall.”
Buttigieg conceded that the proposal will fall short of the ultimate goal of disability advocates - letting disabled passengers stay in their own wheelchairs during flights, which would require modifications to aircraft cabins.
“The reality is that is going to take years,” he said.
Click here to file an airline complaint with the Department of Transportation.