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The Mobile Act would track damaged mobility aids and spur research on designing planes that allow passengers to stay in those aids when flying.
Passengers with disabilities have described harrowing problems during air travel, including bungled security screenings, risky transfers onto planes, and lost and damaged wheelchairs.
Their plight has caught the attention of Congress, where bipartisan bills focused on improving air travel for people with disabilities are being introduced in both the House and Senate.
The Mobility Aids on Board Improve Lives and Empower All Act, introduced Friday, would require the Transportation Department to publicly report on the type of damage that occurs to wheelchairs and other mobility aids. It would require airline carriers to provide information to passengers to ensure a mobility aid can safely fit on a plane.
It would also order the Transportation Department to research the technical and financial feasibility of allowing passengers to board a flight directly in their wheelchair, rather than being transferred out of their wheelchairs and put into a regular seat.
