Air Carrier Access Act

Air Carrier Access Act of 1986
99th United States Congress
Long title An Act to prohibit commercial airlines from discriminating against passengers with disabilities.
Enacted by	99th United States Congress
Enacted	October 2, 1986
Summary
The Air Carrier Access Act of 1986 (ACAA) is a federal law enacted by the 99th United States Congress on October 2, 1986. Its primary purpose is to prohibit commercial airlines from discriminating against passengers with disabilities. The act was passed in response to a narrow interpretation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 by the U.S. Supreme Court. The ACAA ensures that passengers with disabilities have access to air travel services without facing discrimination. It has been subject to regulatory updates to enforce accessibility for websites and kiosks, enhancing the rights of travelers with disabilities.

The Air Carrier Access Act of 1986 (ACAA) is Title 49, Section 41705 of the U.S. Code.

Legal passage

The Act amended the earlier section 404(b) of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (FAA), which was repealed by the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. The ACAA prohibits commercial airlines from discriminating against passengers with disabilities. The act was passed by the U.S. Congress in direct response to a narrow interpretation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 by the U.S. Supreme Court in U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) v. Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA). In PVA, the Supreme Court held that private, commercial air carriers are not liable under Section 504 because they are not "direct recipients" of federal funding to airports.

Purpose

The Act was construed to contain an implied private right of action. However, in 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Alexander v. Sandoval, which held that federal courts may not find an implied private right unless a statute gives explicit indication that Congress intended to bestow such a right. In 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit followed the lead of the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which relied on the Sandoval decision to hold that the Act can only be enforced by filing an administrative complaint with the DOT.

Later developments

In 2013, the DOT provided new rules requiring all domestic and foreign air carriers to have accessible websites and kiosks. By December 12, 2015, the core functionality of all air carrier's websites needed to be accessible, and by December 12, 2016, the remaining web pages were required to be accessible.

In 2022, it was announced that the DOT had published the Airline Passengers with Disabilities Bill of Rights. It (as stated by the DOT) “describes the fundamental rights of air travelers with disabilities under the Air Carrier Access Act and its implementing regulation, 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 382.”

Service animals

Since this act prohibits airlines from discriminating against passengers with disabilities, they must allow them to bring along their service animals. In recent years, people were taking advantage of this act. Delta Air Lines released the statistic that they had seen an 84% increase in animal incidents. Not all of the disability animals that came through the doors of Delta Air Lines, however, were actually service animals. Since December 2020, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) does not include emotional support animals in the Air Carrier Access Act, which is the act that allows service animals to fly on airplanes if they meet requirements. Before December 2020, they did include emotional support animals in their definition of service animals (US Department of Transportation, 2020).