Source: http://southwestada.org/html/publications/ebulletins/legal/2009/may2009.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 00:40:00+00:00

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This document summarizes the new Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) regulations that were changed to incorporate new requirements. Since the ACAA has been in effect 19 years, the regulations have been updated 10 times and have been the subject of frequent written and oral interpretations. Air carriers have also dramatically changed the way they do business. The regulations were updated to incorporate these changes and interpretations.They have also been reorganized and renumbered. These new regulations now address almost every accessibility issue that a passenger with a disability may face on board the aircraft and in an airport.The updated ACAA regulations become effective May 13, 2009.
Clarifies how airlines must provide effective communication for passengers who are deaf or hard-of hearing.
Requires 48-hour notification that a customer is bringing an emotional support animal or psychiatric service animal on board the aircraft.
Visit the Disability Law Index to review the new ACAA and compare it with the older set of regulations.
Call your regional ADA Center at 1-800-949-4232 for questions on the ACAA, the Americans with Disabilities Act and other disability-related laws.
New regulations,1 whose purpose is to carry out the Air Carrier Access Act of 19862 (ACAA), as amended, went into effect on May 13, 2009. Both U.S. and foreign air carriers are prohibited from discriminating against passengers on the basis of disability. Both U.S. and foreign air carriers are required to make aircraft, other facilities, and services accessible. Air carriers also must take steps to accommodate passengers who have a disability.
The ACAA protects individuals who have a disability. Under the ACAA, an individual with a disability is a person who has a physical or mental impairment that, on a permanent or temporary basis, substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of such an impairment, or is regarded as having such an impairment.3 If you are familiar with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)4, then you may notice that the ACAA definition of an individual with a disability is almost identical to ADA definition. There is one important difference, though. The ACAA covers even temporary impairments while the ADA requires the impairment to be long term or permanent.
A carrier must not require a passenger with a disability to give advance notice that s/he will be traveling on a flight.8 However, if the passenger with a disability will require certain specific services, then advance notice must be provided.
Other assistive devices for stowage or use within the cabin, such as prescription medication and delivery devices like syringes or auto-injectors, vision enhancing devices, POCs, ventilators and respirators that use non-spillable batteries, as long as they comply with applicable safety, security, and hazardous materials rules.
In making this assessment, air carrier personnel must consider how significant the consequences of a communicable disease are and whether it can be readily transmitted by casual contact in an aircraft cabin. For example, the common cold is readily transmissible in an aircraft cabin environment but does not have severe health consequences. Someone with a cold would not pose a direct threat. On the other hand, AIDS has very severe health consequences. However, it is not readily transmissible in an aircraft cabin. So someone would not pose a direct threat because he or she is HIV-positive or has AIDS.
The definition of service animals includes guide dogs, signal dogs, psychiatric service animals, and emotional support animals. Air carriers are required to allow service animals traveling with persons with disabilities to sit with them in the cabin of the aircraft.65 Passengers traveling with pets, as opposed to service animals or emotional support animals, do not have any rights under the ACAA. To determine whether a passenger with a disability is entitled to travel with a service animal, air carriers may ask questions and request documentation in certain circumstances. The questions that may be asked and the level of documentation that may be required will vary depending on the individual’s disability and the type of service animal. The purpose for the variation in requirements is because 1) many people traveling with a service, comfort or psychiatric support animal may have a have a hidden disability so the need for a service animal is not apparent and 2) the reason an individual with an obvious disability requires a service animal is not always evident.
People with disabilities can sit in any seat with their service animal unless they block an aisle or an area designated for emergency evacuation. If they cannot be accommodated in a requested seat, then they must be given the opportunity to move to another seat within the same class of service. A person with a disability may request a bulkhead seat or another seat that better suits their needs. 72 A person traveling with a service animal may ask to pre-board.
In-flight services and facilities do not have to be provided to service animals. Individuals traveling with the animals must provide for the animal’s food, care, and supervision.
1. 14 C.F.R. Part 382.
2. 49 U.S.C. §41705 et seq.
3. 14 C.F. R. §382.3.
4. 42 U.S.C. §12101 et seq.
10. 14 C.F.R. §382.27(c)(1), (c)(3).
12. 14 C.F.R. §382.27(c)(4) – (c)(10).
16. 14 C.F.R. §382.29 (b).
26. 14 C.F.R. §382.51(a)(1)and (a)(2).
27. 14 C.F.R. §382.51(a)(3). Rules found at 49 C.F.R. parts 37 and 38.
52. 14 C.F.R. §121.571(a)(3), 14 C.F.R. 135.117(b).
63. 14 C.F.R. §382.19 (b).
86. 14 C.F.R. §382.155 (d).
This material is provided by the DBTAC National Network of ADA Centers. The DBTAC’s are funded by the National Institute on Disability Rehabilitation and Research (NIDRR), the US Department of Education (Grant # H133A060091), to provide technical assistance, training, and materials on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The information, materials, and technical assistance provided are intended solely as information guidance and are neither a determination of your legal rights or responsibilities under the Act, nor binding on any agency with enforcement responsibility under the ADA.

References: §41705
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 §12101
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 §121
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