[nabs-l] Your Feedback Needed For DOT Air Carrier Access Act Forum Sep 14-15 #ACAAMIA

[Mika Pyyhkala]

Greetings,

I will be attending a US Department of Transportation forum involving
the air travel experience of people with disabilities and the ACAA on
Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.  Please reply to this email with
your feedback.  Please reply directly to the email to keep the subject
in tact so that messages are threaded together.
Please also post your observations on Twitter with the hashtag
#ACAAMIA
in your tweet.  I will also be posting my observations at
http://twitter.com/pyyhkala

The DOT holds these forums periodically, and they are attended by
regulatory compliance and corporate CRO employees from air carriers,
DOT officials, representatives from airports & other aviation service
contractors, and representatives from a number of organizations of and
for people with disabilities.

I am interested in any feedback you have as it pertains to the current
air travel experience of people who are blind.

You can provide feedback in your own words, and/or use the following
10 questions as a basis for issues we might consider.  The questions
are quite lengthy, but they cover a number of practical and public
policy areas regarding the air travel experience of the blind.  All of
the questions are interesting, but I would call your attention
specifically to number 6 and 10 as I will be meeting with DOT and
airline officials to discuss topics raised in those specific
questions.

The forum will provide direct access to the chief CRO's at all the
major US and many foreign carriers, as well as the DOT officials that
are involved with both the development and implimentation of current
and future Air Carrier Access Act 14 CFR Part 382 regulations.  I may
be able to speak with specific carriers chief CRO's to address
specific issues or concerns you have.


1.  What are the key issues facing blind air travelers in the current
day reservation, airport, and in flight experience?

2.  What trends do you see in the air travel experience of blind
people?  Are things getting better, worse, staying the same?  Are
there certain aspects of the experience that are getting better,
worse, or staying the same?

3.  Is the Air Carrier Access Act and accompanying 14 CFR Part 382
regulation meeting the needs of blind air travelers?  If not, what
needs to change in order to make the ACAA more meaningful for the
blind?

4.  All major US and many foreign carriers have specific procedures,
programs, and mechanisms which seek to implement the ACAA, and address
the travel experience of people with disabilities.  For example, CRO's
at all airports, employee training, procedures, mandatory complaint
reporting, and assurances from contractors.  How should carriers
improve both their ACAA compliance and overall customer service
initiatives for people who are blind?  Have you ever interacted with a
carrier CRO, and was the person able to effectively handle your
inquiry and treat you as a valued customer?  Are airport CRO's or
corporate CRO's better able to handle your issues?

5.  The Air Carrier Access Act Part 382 regulation has been in place
in some form since 1990.  How familiar are you with your rights under
the regulation?  How familiar are you with the official and unofficial
practices of carriers & DOT as it relates to blind air travelers?  How
familiar and confident are you in navigating "the system,"  both
inside a carrier and at DOT in case you have a disability  related air
travel issue?

6.  There is evidence that blind people still have disability related
issues in the air travel experience, but blind people appear not to be
filing complaints with airport CRO's, corporate CRO's, or DOT?  If
blind people indeed do have disability related issues in air travel,
why don't blind people  use the numerous mechanisms that the carriers
and the government have built to handle ACAA disability issues?  What
steps would advocacy organizations, airlines, or DOT have to take to
get blind people to use the complaint resolution mechanisms?

7.  Overall are the airlines providing you as a blind traveler too
little, just enough, or too much assistance?  Are the airlines
respecting your ACAA mandated choice as to what, if any assistance,
you want to receive?

8.  How well are airlines, DOT, other service providers, and
disability stakeholder organizations addressing the accessibility by
the blind of current and future technology used in the modern day air
travel experience?  This includes, but is not limited too, web sites,
kiosks, in flight entertainment or IFE systems, in flight WiFI, iPhone
BlackBerry Android and other mobile applications, paperless boarding
passes, flight alerts by text message or email, trusted traveler
programs like Global Entry, and nonvisual access to data such as
flight standby or upgrade lists provided on gate information display
screens?

9.  ACAA requires that carriers provide information in a nonvisual
format to people who are blind.  For large hub and other airports,
carriers often provide visual maps on their web sites and in their in
flight magazines to orient travelers to the location of gates, baggage
claim, airline lounges, customer service and ticketing functions, and
other ameneties.  Increasingly this information is and will also be
displayed on board aircraft, via phone applications, and by other
mechanisms.  How successful have carriers and airports been in
conveying this orientation information in a nonvisual way to people
who are blind?  If the information is not being provided in a
nonvisual way, what work arounds have you used to gather this
information?

10. When people with disabilities request special assistance or
services the request is electronically communicated throughout the
carriers departments:
web site, reservations, ticket counter, gates, contractors, and in
flight, via what is called in industry jargon an SSR.  SSR is short
for special service request, and its insertted in to the passengers
PNR.  A PNR, passenger name record, is the electronic file record
associated with a reservation and electronic ticket.  Typically gate
agents, flight attendants, and other carrier operations personell will
review and have access to SSR data on a given flights electronic or
paper passenger manifest.  For example, when a flight is arriving, the
inbound gate agent often will contact contractors to meet passengers
for whom an SSR is on file.  We have received an inquiry as to whether
blind people want carriers to insert SSR notations in the PNR for
blind air travelers without asking the passenger if they desire an
SSR, or without a passenger having requested the SSR or assistance
that is triggered by the SSR entry in a PNR.  The key SSR involving
blind air travelers is BLND short for blind passenger.  The carrier is
concerned that if it tells its employees to be more judicious before
insertting SSR messages for blind air travelers, that some travelers
may be left without desired assistance  or that this may send a
message to employees not to offer help to people with disabilities.
Also, how familiar were you before now with SSR's?  How would you find
out if your PNR had an SSR during a trip?  Have you had experiences
where you've worked with carrier personell to add or remove an SSR,
and if so, how was the experience?