# Air Carrier Access Amendments Act of 2021

This bill updates and strengthens the rules that protect people with disabilities when they fly. It addresses real problems that travelers with disabilities face every day—like broken wheelchairs, inaccessible bathrooms, poor communication about flights, and uncomfortable seating—by giving them stronger legal protections and ways to fight back when airlines treat them unfairly.

The bill expands what airlines are prohibited from doing. Airlines can't discriminate based on disability, which means they can't deny you service, treat you worse than other passengers, or make you sit separately just because of your disability. More importantly, airlines now have to actively make accommodations—they must provide interpreters or captioning when needed, make reasonable changes to their policies if someone with a disability needs them, and remove physical barriers in airports and planes whenever it's feasible to do so. Airlines also can't buy or use old planes without making them accessible to people who use wheelchairs, and if they renovate a plane's cabin, they have to make it accessible too.

The bill creates real teeth for enforcement. For the first time, people with disabilities can sue airlines directly in federal court if they're discriminated against—they don't have to wait for the government to investigate first. If someone wins a lawsuit, they can get money for their damages, plus the airline has to pay their lawyer's fees. The government can also impose civil penalties on airlines for each violation. Additionally, airlines must now display information on their websites about how to file complaints, and the government must publish disability-related complaints publicly so people can see patterns of problems.

Finally, the bill requires the government to create new accessibility standards for aircraft, airports, and airline websites within specific timeframes. New planes must be designed with accessible bathrooms, seating, and communication systems from the start. Older planes must be retrofitted with better wheelchair storage, captioning, and accessible announcements where it's practical and affordable. These changes mean that traveling by air should become significantly more accessible for people with disabilities over time.

Air Carrier Access Amendments Act of 2021

Langevin, James R.

Air Carrier Access Amendments Act of 2021 This bill expands provisions prohibiting discrimination against disabled individuals by an air carrier. Specifically, it enumerates certain actions that an air carrier must take or may not take with respect to a disabled individual. It also requires the Department of Transportation (DOT) to ensure that disabled individuals traveling in air transportation are able to file complaints with DOT in response to disability-related discrimination and receive assistance from DOT through a hotline or comparable electronic means. The bill authorizes an aggrieved individual and the Department of Justice to bring a civil action for discrimination. The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board shall prescribe regulations setting forth minimum standards for aircraft with new or existing type certificates to ensure the accessibility of individuals with disabilities, including those who use wheelchairs. The standards shall address, among other things, boarding and deplaning equipment, seating accommodations, lavatories, visually accessible announcements, and proper stowage of assistive devices in the cargo hold to prevent damage.