Rethinking Accessibility in Air Travel
- Eric Boromisa
- Apr 5
- 7 min read
Winners in the future of air travel must prioritize inclusive design, empathetic service, and robust infrastructure to ensure every passenger enjoys a seamless journey.
Accessibility in air travel isn’t a checkbox. It's a mindset. Numbers & Letters recently had the privilege of attending the first joint ICAO/IATA/ACI Symposium on Passenger Accessibility in Montreal in 2024 and got a rare chance to explore the challenges and opportunities of making air travel more accessible.
Over 40% of passengers currently have a visible or non-visible disability and with an aging population, that number is only going to climb above 50%.
The airports and airlines that lean into this new normal will thrive at the expense of businesses that find themselves unwilling to adapt.
Here are the key takeaways from the Passenger Accessibility Symposium we believe should and will be central to designing solutions for conversations about the future of accessible air travel:
1. Restroom Accessibility Remains a Major Gap
Personal stories are a powerful reminder of what it means to travel and rely on wheelchairs, canes, or other mobility aids.
Nearly 10 million people in the US alone had travel-limiting disabilities. And the number will likely rise as our population ages. Passengers with limited mobility often have no access to restrooms for long stretches of their journey. Many are forced to fast, limit water intake, or "hold it" until reaching their destination. This is excruciating, especially on long-haul flights. Increasing restroom availability and accessibility at every stage of the journey is essential.
In 2022, nearly 9.2 million Americans relied on canes, walkers, or wheelchairs: a figure that will likely rise as our population ages.
Montreal (YUL) and San Francisco (SFO) both have several, clearly marked toilets (accessible ones no less) at frequent stages in corridors directing inbound arrivals to the immigration area, with not so subtle, delightfully Canadian admonishment, “Better go now than risk needing to go while in line!”
Action Points:
Install more accessible restrooms throughout airports, especially single use changing places near gates and waiting areas.
Standardize restroom designs to cater to a wide range of mobility needs, including larger stalls and support bars.
Ensure that all restrooms are well-signposted with high-contrast, easy-to-understand symbols.
2. The SSR System is Outdated and Inconsistent
Special Service Requests (SSRs) are intended to provide tailored assistance but vary widely across airports, airlines, and operators. Passengers often encounter inconsistent experiences due to this lack of standardization.
Action Points:
Replace SSR systems with a globally consistent and transparent framework that also includes support animals.
Train frontline staff to understand and correctly interpret SSR codes. Provide job aids or “cheat sheets” for front line staff to have easy reminders of what to do and how to ask questions to be of best assistance.
Provide passengers with digital tools to update and verify their SSR information in real-time.
When possible, avoid asking for doctor’s notes (which creates an extra chore and a barrier to travel) or keep one on file in a passenger’s frequent flyer profile if required by law.
3. Boarding and Disembarking Procedures Matter
The current protocol used by some airlines of 'last on, first off' often creates logistical and emotional stress, as well as a loss of dignity as some people with travel-limiting disabilities have described an embarrassing “all eyes on us” effect. Shifting to 'first on, last off' provides a smoother and more respectful experience.
Action Points:
Prioritize pre-boarding for passengers needing assistance.
Ensure adequate staffing and specialized equipment, like aisle chairs.
Clearly communicate boarding and disembarking procedures to passengers needing assistance.
4. Staff Training Makes All the Difference
Some staff excel by offering personalized assistance and listening to passengers' specific needs, while others rigidly follow standardized protocols. Empathy and adaptability are key.
Action Points:
Implement regular, mandatory empathy-focused staff training programs.
Include trainers with lived experiences of disabilities.
Provide scenario-based training for handling diverse passenger needs.
5. Regional Differences in Responsibility
In North America, airlines handle most mobility requests, whereas airports typically assume this responsibility in other regions. Understanding these differences helps align passenger expectations.
Action Points:
Develop clearer communication channels between airlines and airports for mobility requests.
Inform passengers about regional differences during booking and check-in.
Remember, air travelers speak many languages, so the more you can incorporate universal symbolic signage and use words that mean the same thing in multiple languages (toilet vs. washroom) or simpler words (To All Gates vs. Departures) the less confusion with way-finding there will be.
6. Mobility Aid Handling Must Improve
Mobility aids, including wheelchairs, are frequently damaged, taken away unnecessarily, or checked too early. Programs like Delta’s "Air for All" which creates a row with a foldable aisle seat to secure a wheelchair or power chair inflight aim to address these challenges.
Similarly the US Department of Transportation is looking to add a wheelchair rule to mandate the accommodation of wheelchairs onboard after American Airlines was fined $50m for improper and negligent handling of passengers with disability requests.
Action Points:
Allow passengers to use their mobility aids on the jetbridge and onboard when feasible.
Train baggage handlers specifically on mobility aid care. Create a hands-free job aid for baggage handlers to understand how to load/unload common mobility aids like wheel chairs and power chairs without damaging them, ideally directly to and from the jet bridge.
Collaborate with mobility aid manufacturers on durable and flight-friendly, lightweight designs.
7. Addressing Battery Challenges
Mobility aid batteries, especially non-removable ones, pose significant logistical and safety challenges.
Action Points:
Partner with mobility- aid manufacturers to standardize battery design and removability.
Develop clear safety protocols for handling and storing battery-powered aids.
Provide passengers with clear pre-flight instructions and education on battery removability (especially modification kits) and how they can affect whether the aids are appropriate for air travel.
8. Hidden Disabilities Deserve Recognition
Approximately 20% of passengers have reduced mobility, sight, or hearing, while another 20% have non-visible disabilities like autism, dementia, ADHD and anxiety. Programs like the "Sunflower Initiative" offer a simple way to identify and support these passengers.
Action Points:
Adopt the Sunflower Program to recognize hidden disabilities.
Train staff on how to support passengers with non-visible disabilities.
Avoid intrusive questioning about medical needs or assistance requirements.
9. Infrastructure Redundancy is Worth the Investment
Redundancies in infrastructure, like additional escalators or lifts with dual-sided doors, improve accessibility and reduce future costs.
Action Points:
Design airports with redundancy in critical infrastructure like escalators (three in case one breaks) and elevators (two where possible).
Adapt to Plan for aging demographics and long-term passenger needs such as lining. Benches lining the long corridors of terminal walkways with benches. This can go miles towards helping people that need to rest more frequently
Use high-contrast signage and intuitive way-finding systems. High contrast paths delineating the shortest path from say Duty Free or Food & Beverage Outlets.
Floor projections of optimal routes as well as large maps with walking distances can also help those with low vision.
10. Design for Autonomy and Options
Passengers with disabilities value autonomy. Offering multiple options for assistance and support empowers travelers.
For instance, catering to people who are hard of hearing, KLM transcribes their pre-recorded in-flight announcements into multiple languages which show as closed captions on the in-flight entertainment system (in addition to the entertainment) and also has audio descriptions for people with visual impairments or blindness.
Remember, accessibility solutions disabilities are not one-size-fits-all, but a gradient. Lufthansa actually has started to include a snap on some of their newer seats for passengers to conveniently store their glasses at-hand without risk of them falling to the floor or breaking.
According to the Vision Council, over 66% of adults in the US and Europe wear some sort of vision correction, so these little touches aren’t there to serve the few, but designing a kinder world for our older selves.
Action Points:
Design assistance processes that allow passengers maximum independence.
Provide clear digital maps, infographics, and instructional videos. Organizations should ask: Does your app or website work with screen readers? Can you pre-record common inflight messages with a professional voice actor and do so in multiple languages and provide audio descriptions of content in your IFE?
Enable real-time assistance requests/buttons via mobile apps. Even a button that connects to a person onsite can go a long way to help passengers stay independent while reducing anxiety if they find themselves needing help.
11. Be Sure to Include People with Disabilities Throughout Your Design Process. Even Better - Employ Them!
While it can be kind of you to consider the needs of passengers other with different abilities, it is even more essential to develop the necessary relationships to include them throughout the design process, testing and implementation.
Proactively reach out to and consult with groups that specialize in training staff, universally accessible design and non-visible impairments. Be sure to compensate them for their time and pay for travel and accommodation costs.
Even better, make sure your organization is recruiting and employing people with disabilities at all levels. Gaining a reputation for inclusivity will be a talent attractor and increase your chances of successful rollouts. Having a more representative workforce will help you catch problems before they turn into nightmares and avoid a lot of rework on process and product rollouts.
As was said throughout the symposium, “Nothing About Us Without Us”.
Action Points:
Take a look at all of the work that non-profits like Universal Access have done to develop common standards for Universal Design
Work with disability led and powered groups like Fable to not only test your designs, but train your design and on the ground staff on how to best serve the broadest number of people.
Recruit from platforms that specialize in placing people with disabilities like My Disability Jobs and ensure that you have flexible and remote only options to not only recruit the best people, but ensure they can bring their best selves to work each day.
Want to learn more about designing inclusive customer experiences? Book an exploratory call with Numbers & Letters today.
https://www.changingplacesinternational.org/ has dimensions specifications (typically 3x4 meters) and buildout requirements to allow for caregivers and a height-adjustable changing bench
Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Program is a wonderful resource to understand the kaleidoscope of non-visible disabilities and how your business can adapt to people with various non-apparent needs, like extra time or a place to rest.
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