By Anusha Subramanian | March 5, 2025
Left Behind: The State of Airline Accessibility
For millions of Americans with disabilities, air travel presents unique challenges that other passengers rarely
encounter. The Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA), enforced by the Department of Transportation (DOT), and applied to
flights to, from or within the United States, prevents airlines from discriminating against passengers with
disabilities. At the end of each calendar year, DOT requires U.S and foreign carriers to report the number and type of
disability-related complaints registered against the airlines. This analysis is conducted on disability-related
complaints received by 11 of the largest U.S commercial airlines by market share in the years 2019-2023. The data was
last updated on August 16th, 2024 and the complaint report for 2024 has not yet been released.
Spirit Airlines had the highest rate of disability related complaints in 2023, at 89 complaints per million passengers
or 13 complaints for every thousand flights that it completed. This is the highest that Spirit has reported in the past
5 years.
Of these, nearly 40% of the complaints were against the airline for failure to provide assistance to a passenger in
need. According to the Air Traffic Consumer Report for 2023, Spirit Airlines also ranked last in every month of the year
for mishandling wheelchairs and scooters at a rate of 71 mishandled items for every 100 passengers.
DOT Cracks Down On Disability Complaints
In October 2024, the U.S Department of Transportation announced that it will fine American Airlines $50 million dollars
for numerous violations of the law that protects passengers with disabilities, between 2019-2023.
This fine is 25 times higher than other fines levied for similar situations. Half of the penalty is a fine while the
other half will be credited back to the airline to provide compensation to affected passengers and invest in changes to
better serve disabled passengers.
At the announcement of the fine by DOT, the organization played back the viral video at Miami International Airport,
where an American Airlines baggage handler can be seen dismissively dropping a wheelchair down a baggage ramp.
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