ACAA Petition

CAA Petition - Aircraft Carrier Access Act

What is the ACAA?

The ACAA bans discrimination against passengers with disabilities when they travel. It requires airline carriers to help, accommodate, passengers with disabilities when they travel. The ACAA applies to airports and carriers using aircraft with 19 or more passenger seats. The ACAA also requires carriers to provide a quick response or solution of complaints brought by passengers with disabilities. The Department of Transportation (DOT) enforces the ACAA and fines carriers violating the ACAA.

Accessibility of airport facilities

Airports must maintain an accessible path between the gate and the area from which people board; shuttles to get between terminals and people movers must be wheelchair accessible; and the area surrounding and owned by airports (like paths between parking lots and the parking lots) is also accessible.

Help at the airport and airplanes

If requested by the passenger with a disability or someone on behalf of a passenger with a disability, airlines must provide the following services, including but not limited to:

• Helping the passenger with a disability get on and off the plane
• Helping make flight connections and transportation between gates
• Ensuring no passengers with a disability are left unattended in a wheelchair for over 30 minutes

Filing complaints with the airlines

Passengers with disabilities can file a complaint with the carriers’ "complaints resolution officials" (CRO). The CRO must be available in person at the airport or by telephone. Airlines must tell passengers with a disability about the CRO and how to contact the CRO when any person raises a disability-related complaint about help, or services regarding passenger(s) with a disability. If the personnel does not immediately resolve the issue, he must tell the passenger of the right to contact a CRO and then contact a CRO or give the passenger the means to contact the CRO.

When a complaint is made to a CRO, the CRO must ensure compliance with the ACAA, provide to the complainant a written statement summarizing the incident and what steps the carrier plans to take, or a summary explaining why no violation was found, and he must inform complainant of his or her right to file a complaint with the DOT at the airport.

ACAA Complaint Form

Carriers’ response to complaints

Carriers are not required to respond to a complaint sent more than 45 days after the date of the incident, except for complaints referred to them by the DOT. Carriers must respond to a written complaint within 30 days.

If carriers find that a violation happened, they must give the complainant a written summary and the steps they will take in response to the violation. If carriers deny that a violation occurred, they must give a written summary for not finding a violation. Carriers must also inform the complainant of his or her right to file a complaint with the DOT.

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Please Support the ACAA Petition

Fill out the form below to show your support

Action Petitioned for:
We, the undersigned, demand that the boarding and exiting of aircraft (19 seats or more), that service the U.S. Virgin Islands be made fully accessible so that all passengers can have the facility, comfort, and safety, of air travel. The airlines servicing the USVI Airports must do more to make the airports and services fully compliant with federal law.

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