United States - Airline Passengers WithDisabilities Bill of Rights
The Airline Passengers with Disabilities Bill of Rights describes the fundamental rightsof passengers with disabilities under the Air Carrier Access Act when flying with anycarrier, including KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, to, from and within the United States.

I. The Right to Be Treated With Dignity and Respect
An airline, including its employees and contractors, may not discriminate against anindividual with a disability because of his or her disability.
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For example, an airline may not refuse transportation or other services
because of one’s disability or resulting appearance or involuntary behavior.
An airline cannot require air travelers with disabilities to accept special
services or subject them to restrictions that do not apply to other passengers,
except passengers with disabilities may need to check-in early, provide
advanced notice or documentation, or pre-board to receive certain disabilityrelated services.
Airline personnel who deal with the traveling public must be trained to beaware of passengers with disabilities’ needs and how they can beaccommodated safely and with dignity.
Airline employees and contractors must receive refresher training at least
once every three years. Complaint Resolution Officials (the airlines’ experts inresolving disability-related issues) must receive refresher training annually.

II. The Right to Receive Information About Services and Aircraft
Capabilities and Limitations
Airlines must provide air travelers with disabilities information upon request about
the facilities and services available to them. The information must be specific to theaircraft scheduled for the flight, unless unfeasible (for example, an unpredictable
aircraft substitution occurs).
The information airlines must provide includes:••••••Any aircraft-related, service-related, or other limitations on the ability toaccommodate passengers with a disability, such as limitations on level-entry
boarding (Airlines must provide this information to any passenger who statesthat he or she uses a wheelchair for boarding, even if he or she did not
request the information).
Any limitations on the availability of storage on the aircraft.
For assistive devices.
The specific location of seats with movable aisle armrests.
Whether the aircraft has an accessible lavatory.
The types of services that are not available on the flight.

III. The Right to Receive Information in an Accessible Format
An airline’s primary website must be accessible if the airline uses an aircraft withmore than 60 seats. In addition, airlines must ensure that automated kiosks they
install after December 2016 at U.S. airports with 10,000 or more enplanements per
year are an accessible model, until 25% of kiosks at each airport location are theaccessible model.
Passengers who identify as needing visual or hearing assistance must receive prompt
access to the same trip information as other passengers at the gate, ticket area,
customer service desk and on the aircraft (so long as it does not interfere with airline
employees’ safety duties).
Airlines must train personnel to recognize requests for communicationaccommodation. The personnel must be trained to use the most common methods
for communicating with individuals who are blind, deaf or hard of hearing that arereadily available, such as writing notes, for example. Personnel must also be trained
to use established means for communicating with deaf-blind passengers when theyare available, such as passing out Braille cards if available, reading an informationsheet that a passenger provides, or communicating through an interpreter, forexample.

IV. The Right to Accessible Airport Facilities
Airlines and U.S. airport operators are both responsible for the accessibility of airport
facilities. The Air Carrier Access (ACAA) and Department’s implementing regulation in
14 CFR Part 382 cover airlines’ obligations. Various other federal statutes andregulations apply to U.S. airport operators, for example, the Americans withDisabilities Act (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and theirimplementing regulations. Airlines and airport operators have concurrent obligations
to ensure accessibility of airport facilities.
This Bill of Rights describes the obligations of airlines under the ACAA. In general,
airlines must ensure that terminal facilities that they own, lease or control are readily
accessible and usable by passengers with disabilities at U.S. airports and are readily
usable at foreign airports. Airports are responsible for ensuring compliance offacilities that they own, operate or lease to other parties, including airlines. Airlines
must ensure an accessible route between the gate and the aircraft boarding location.
When level-entry boarding is not available, such as boarding via a jet bridge, airlines
and U.S. airports must ensure ramps or mechanical lifts are available to service mostflights. Airlines, in cooperation with airport operators, must also provide service
animal relief areas at the airport.

V. The Right to Assistance at Airports
Passengers with disabilities must be provided prompt and timely enplaning anddeplaning assistance, upon request, from properly trained airline personnel. This
must include:••••The services of personnel and the use of ground wheelchairs, accessible
motorized carts, boarding wheelchairs, on-board wheelchairs and ramps or
mechanical lifts, as needed.
Assistance with moving from the curb to the departing flight, assistance withtransportation between gates to make connections, and assistance withmoving from the arriving flight to the curb for pick-up.
Assistance with accessing key functional areas of the terminal such as theticket counter or baggage claim, or to a restroom entrance (if time allows).
Escorting a passenger with a service animal to an animal relief area at a U.S.
airport.

Passengers who request assistance in advance of arriving at the airport need toidentify to airline personnel once they arrive at the airport or the gate to receive theassistance.
Airlines cannot require the passenger to accept a specific form of assistance that heor she does not request (ex: requiring a wheelchair when a sight guide wasrequested).
In addition, the airline cannot leave a passenger unattended for more than 30
minutes in a wheelchair or other device, in which the passenger is not independently
mobile.

VI. The Right to Assistance on the Aircraft
Airlines must allow a passenger with a disability who self-identifies at the gate asneeding additional time or assistance to board, stow accessibility equipment or beseated, the opportunity to board before all other passengers.
•Except, an airline with an open seating policy has been approved by DOT toaccommodate extra-time passengers after an initial group of passengers haveboarded, but early in the boarding process.

Passengers with disabilities must be provided prompt and timely boarding anddeplaning assistance, upon request, from properly trained airline personnel.

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This includes assistance with moving to and from seats.
If level loading bridges are not available, a lifting device must be provided toassist persons with limited mobility safely on and off the aircraft at most U.S.
airports, except when boarding smaller aircraft (less than 19 seats).
For smaller aircraft and non-primary U.S. airports or foreign airports, airlines
must ensure boarding and deplaning assistance by any available means
acceptable to the passenger.
However, airlines must never hand-carry a passenger (directly pick up apassenger’s body in the arms of airline personnel) on or off an aircraft, except
in an emergency.

Once a passenger with a disability has boarded, airlines must provide assistance, ifrequested, such as:••Moving to or from the lavatory, including using an on-board chair to assist, ifrequested.
Stowing and retrieving carry-on items, including assistive devices.

VII. The Right to Travel With an Assistive Device or Service
AnimalTraveling with Assistive Devices on Aircraft
Airlines must allow assistive devices as carry-ons in the cabin free of charge
consistent with safety rules.
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This includes medical devices and/or a personal amount of medication thatassists the passenger with his or her disability.
Assistive devices must not count against the passenger’s carry-on limit.
Priority in-cabin stowage (either a closet or a row of seats designated for seatstrapping) must be available for at least one normal-sized collapsible manual
wheelchair in any aircraft with 100 or more passenger seats.
Airlines that use seat strapping should provide space for at least 2 of thesewheelchairs if stowing the second wheelchair would not displace passengers.
The priority stowage requirements do not apply to older aircraft.

Manual wheelchairs that cannot be transported in the cabin must be transported in
the cargo compartment consistent with safety and security requirements. Airlines
must accept a battery powered wheelchair, if it fits in the cargo compartment andcan be transported consistent with safety and security requirements. Airlines mustalso provide for the checking and timely return of assistive devices at the gate for use
in the terminal. Should an airline lose, damage or destroy the wheelchair or otherassistive device, the airline must provide compensation in an amount up to theoriginal purchase price of the wheelchair or device.
Traveling with Service Animals
Airlines must permit a service dog to accompany a passenger with a disability in theaircraft cabin unless:••••

The dog poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others;
The dog causes a significant disruption or misbehaves in the cabin or at anairport gate area;
The dog’s carriage would violate a U.S. or foreign law;
Current DOT forms weren’t provided as required by the airline for the trip.

A decision by airline personnel to refuse transportation of a service dog with thepassenger must be based on an individualized and objective assessment of the dogthat considers the nature of the risk and the likelihood that harm will actually, orcontinue to, occur. The assessment should also consider whether mitigations areavailable.
Airlines cannot deny transportation of the service dog if there are means that wouldmitigate the problem.

VIII. The Right to Receive Seating Accommodations

Airlines must provide specific seats to the following passengers who identify toairline personnel as needing the seat, if the seat exists on the same class of service
on the aircraft:••••

Movable Aisle Armrest – When the passenger uses an aisle chair to board andcannot transfer readily over a fixed aisle armrest.
Bulkhead Seat or Other Seat – When the passenger travels with a service
animal that is best accommodated at a particular seat.
Greater Leg Room – When the passenger has a fused or immobilized leg.
Adjoining Seat – For a companion providing a certain type of assistance, suchas:o A personal care attendant who performs a function that is not required
to be performed by airline personnel, for example assisting a passenger
with a disability with eating;o A reader for a passenger who is blind or low vision;o An interpreter for a passenger who is deaf or hard of hearing; oro A safety assistant if a passenger with a disability cannot assist with theirown evacuation.

For passengers not specified above, airlines must provide a seat assignment that best
accommodates his or her disability if the passenger meets the airline’s procedures.
Airlines must provide seating accommodations using 1 of 3 methods: the block
method, the priority method or preboarding (if the airline does not provide advanceseat assignments). Visit the DOT Seating Accommodation Methods page, opens in anew window to learn more about these seating methods and for the seating
methods of the largest U.S. airlines and their operating partners, which account for
approximately 95 percent of domestic passenger air traffic. Information regarding
seating methods of certain foreign air carriers is also provided.

IX. The Right to Accessible Aircraft Features
New aircraft delivered to U.S. airlines after April 1992 and to foreign airlines afterMay 2010 must have accessible features that include:

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Movable aisle armrests on half of the aisle seats, if the aircraft has 30 or moreseats.
o DOT has approved some airlines to meet the purpose of thisrequirement by alternative means that provide substantially the sameor greater accessibility to passengers with disabilities.
Priority stowage space for wheelchairs in the cabin for aircraft with 100 or
more seats.
At least 1 accessible lavatory, if the aircraft has more than 1 aisle.
An on-board wheelchair, if the aircraft has an accessible lavatory, or thepassenger gives the airline advance notice that he or she can use aninaccessible lavatory and needs an on-board chair to reach it.

Airlines with older aircraft with 30 or more seats that replace the aisle seats, mustensure half of these seats have movable aisle armrests. Also, if an airline replaces alavatory on a twin-aisle aircraft, there must be an accessible lavatory.

X. The Right to Resolution of a Disability-Related Issue
Airlines must make available a Complaint Resolution Official (CRO) in a timely
manner, and this may be by phone.
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The CRO should be trained as an expert in resolving disability-related issues
and be able to resolve disability-related issues on the spot.
o Passengers with disabilities who are not satisfied with air travel services
may file a complaint with the airline or DOT. Complaints concerning
issues under the airport’s responsibility can be filed with theairport, FAA, opens in a new window or DOJ, opens in a new window.
Airlines must respond and directly address the disability-related issues in yourcomplaint in writing within 30 days, but airlines are not required to addresscomplaints sent more than 45 days after the incident unless the complaint isreferred to the airline by DOT.
DOT will refer all disability-related complaints it receives within 6 months of
the incident for response by the appropriate carrier.
DOT investigates all disability-related complaints it receives to determine
whether a violation of the Air Carrier Access Act occurred.
Passengers with disabilities who have pressing questions about their rights
should ask to speak with the airline’s CRO. Airlines must have a CRO available

at each airport they serve during all times the airline is operating at thatairport. Passengers may also contact the DOT Disability Hotline at 1-800-7784838. The hours for the hotline are 8:30am to 5:00pm Monday-Friday.