Collapse to view only § 382.119 - What information must carriers give individuals with vision or hearing impairment on aircraft?

§ 382.111 - What services must carriers provide to passengers with a disability on board the aircraft?

As a carrier, you must provide services within the aircraft cabin as requested by or on behalf of passengers with a disability, or when offered by carrier personnel and accepted by passengers with a disability, as follows:

(a) Assistance in moving to and from seats, as part of the enplaning and deplaning processes;

(b) Assistance in preparation for eating, such as opening packages and identifying food;

(c) If there is an on-board wheelchair on the aircraft, assistance with the use of the on-board wheelchair to enable the person to move to and from a lavatory;

(d) Assistance to a semi-ambulatory person in moving to and from the lavatory, not involving lifting or carrying the person; or

(e) Assistance in stowing and retrieving carry-on items, including mobility aids and other assistive devices stowed in the cabin (see also 382.91(d)). To receive such assistance, the passenger must self-identify as being an individual with a disability needing the assistance.

(f) Effective communication with passengers who have vision impairments or who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, so that these passengers have prompt access to information the carrier provides to other passengers (e.g. weather, on-board services, flight delays, connecting gates at the next airport).

[Doc. No. DOT-OST-2004-19482, 73 FR 27665, May 13, 2008, as amended at 75 FR 44887, July 30, 2010]

§ 382.113 - What services are carriers not required to provide to passengers with a disability on board the aircraft?

As a carrier, you are not required to provide extensive special assistance to qualified individuals with a disability. For purposes of this section, extensive special assistance includes the following activities:

(a) Assistance in actual eating;

(b) Assistance within the restroom or assistance at the passenger's seat with elimination functions; and

(c) Provision of medical services.

§ 382.115 - What requirements apply to on-board safety briefings?

As a carrier, you must comply with the following requirements with respect to on-board safety briefings:

(a) You must conduct an individual safety briefing for any passenger where required by 14 CFR 121.571(a)(3) and (a)(4), 14 CFR 135.117(b), or other FAA requirements.

(b) You may offer an individual briefing to any other passenger, but you may not require an individual to have such a briefing except as provided in paragraph (a) of this section.

(c) You must not require any passenger with a disability to demonstrate that he or she has listened to, read, or understood the information presented, except to the extent that carrier personnel impose such a requirement on all passengers with respect to the general safety briefing. You must not take any action adverse to a qualified individual with a disability on the basis that the person has not “accepted” the briefing.

(d) When you conduct an individual safety briefing for a passenger with a disability, you must do so as inconspicuously and discreetly as possible.

(e) The accessibility requirements for onboard video safety presentations that carriers must meet are outlined in section 382.69.

§ 382.119 - What information must carriers give individuals with vision or hearing impairment on aircraft?

(a) As a carrier, you must ensure that passengers with a disability who identify themselves as needing visual or hearing assistance have prompt access to the same information provided to other passengers on the aircraft as described in paragraph (b) of this section, to the extent that it does not interfere with crewmembers' safety duties as set forth in FAA and applicable foreign regulations.

(b) The covered information includes but is not limited to the following: information concerning flight safety, procedures for takeoff and landing, flight delays, schedule or aircraft changes that affect the travel of persons with disabilities, diversion to a different airport, scheduled departure and arrival time, boarding information, weather conditions at the flight's destination, beverage and menu information, connecting gate assignments, baggage claim, individuals being paged by airlines, and emergencies (e.g., fire or bomb threat).