[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 90 (Wednesday, May 8, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 38852-38853]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-09976]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary

14 CFR Part 382

[Docket No. DOT-OST-2022-0144]
RIN 2105-AF14


Ensuring Safe Accommodations for Air Travelers With Disabilities 
Using Wheelchairs

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary (OST), Department of Transportation 
(DOT or the Department).

ACTION: Proposed rule; extension of comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Department is extending through June 12, 2024, the period 
for interested persons to submit comments to its proposed rule on 
Ensuring Safe Accommodations for Air Travelers with Disabilities Using 
Wheelchairs.

DATES: The comment period for the proposed rule published March 12, 
2024, at 89 FR 17766, is extended. Comments should be filed by June 12, 
2024. Late-filed comments will be considered to the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: You may file comments identified by the docket number DOT-
OST-2022-0144 by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, West Building Ground Floor, 
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room 
W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 
p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
     Fax: (202) 493-2251.
    Instructions: You must include the agency name and docket number 
DOT-OST-2022-0144 or the Regulatory Identification Number (RIN 2105-
AF14) for the rulemaking at the beginning of your comment. All comments 
received will be posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov, 
including any personal information provided.
    Privacy Act: Anyone can search the electronic form of all comments 
received in any of our dockets by the name of the individual submitting 
the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an 
association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's 
complete Privacy Act statement in the Federal Register published on 
April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78), or you may visit https://www.transportation.gov/privacy.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents and 
comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov or to the street 
address listed above. Follow the online instructions for accessing the 
docket.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christopher Miller, Staff Attorney, 
Office of Aviation Consumer Protection, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20590, 202-366-
9342 (phone), 202-366-7152 (fax), [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On February 29, 2024, the Department 
publicly announced and posted to its website a notice of proposed 
rulemaking (NPRM) to ensure airline passengers who use wheelchairs can 
travel safely and with dignity. In the NPRM, which was published in the 
Federal Register on March 12, 2024, the Department proposed to change 
the way airlines provide accommodations for individuals who use 
wheelchairs. The NPRM proposed to set new standards for prompt, safe, 
and dignified assistance, to mandate enhanced training for airline 
employees and contractors who physically assist passengers with 
disabilities and handle passengers' wheelchairs, and to specify actions 
that airlines must take to protect passengers when a wheelchair is 
damaged during transport. The proposed rulemaking also clarified that 
any mishandling of a passenger's checked wheelchair or other assistive 
device is a violation of the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) and proposed 
to make the mishandling of a wheelchair or other assistive device a per 
se violation. In addition, the Department solicited comment on various 
issues including the size standards for

[[Page 38853]]

lavatories on twin-aisle aircraft and reimbursements of the fare 
difference when the fare on a flight a wheelchair user took and the 
fare on a flight that a wheelchair would have taken if the wheelchair 
had been able to fit in the aircraft differ. The NPRM provided for a 
comment period of 60 days after publication of the NPRM in the Federal 
Register, i.e., May 13, 2024.
    On March 20, 2024, Airlines for America, the International Air 
Transport Association, the National Air Carriers Association, the 
Regional Airline Association, and the Airline Service Providers 
Association (collectively ``Associations'') filed a joint request to 
extend the public comment period for an additional 90 days. The 
Associations state that this additional time is needed because of the 
number of questions and requests for comment posed in the NPRM and the 
significance of the proposed changes to the accessibility obligations 
of airlines and airlines' service providers. The Associations also ask 
questions regarding the proposal and assert that answers to these 
questions are necessary to understand the NPRM's benefits and impact. 
The Department's responses to the questions raised in the joint request 
are posted in the rulemaking docket at https://www.regulations.gov/docket/DOT-OST-2022-0144.
    On April 26, 2024, 16 disability rights organizations filed a joint 
comment urging the Department to deny the Associations' requests for an 
extension to the comment period for the NPRM. These organizations are: 
Access Living, American Association of People with Disabilities, The 
Arc of the United States, Blinded Veterans Association, Christopher & 
Dana Reeve Foundation, Cure SMA, Disability Rights Education & Defense 
Fund, Epilepsy Foundation, I AM ALS, Muscular Dystrophy Association, 
National Council on Independent Living, National Disability Rights 
Network, National MS Society, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Parent 
Project Muscular Dystrophy, and United Spinal Association. The 
disability rights organizations assert the Department has provided a 
sufficient time for relevant stakeholders to review and comment on the 
NPRM considering the multiple years' effort to improve the air travel 
experience of passengers who are wheelchair users, and the significant 
concerns for their safety and dignity in air travel.
    The Department has carefully considered the request for extension 
of the comment period and the request to deny the extension and has 
determined to extend the comment period for the proposed rule for 30 
days from May 13, 2024, to June 12, 2024. The Department believes that 
granting a one-month extension of the original comment period is 
sufficient to allow stakeholders to review potential impacts, to assess 
the Department's responses to the clarification requests, and to 
prepare comments.
    Given the request from the disability rights organizations to deny 
the request to extend the comment period, the Department encourages all 
persons to submit comments when ready rather than waiting until the end 
of the extended period.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on or around this 1st day of May 2024, 
under authority delegated at 49 CFR 1.27(n).
Blane A. Workie,
Assistant General Counsel DOT's Office of Aviation Consumer Protection.
[FR Doc. 2024-09976 Filed 5-7-24; 8:45 am]
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