(This is a slightly different version of a story we prepared first for The Points Guy site)

Over the past two years, 25.6 million travelers with disabilities have taken a total of 76.9 million trips and have spent almost $50 billion on travel per year. When you add their travel companions to the equation, this group spends over $100 billion per year on travel.

This data comes from a 2024 market study from the Open Doors Organization, a Chicago-based group that advocates for accessible services and goods.

Despite all that traveling and spending, ODO’s study found that in the past two years, more than 80% of travelers with disabilities have encountered obstacles when dealing with airlines and airports.

The problems include difficulty navigating narrow aircraft aisles, problems hearing announcements, long distances between gates, difficulty navigating terminals and lack of adequate seating areas.

And that doesn’t even address the jarring statistics of how often airlines lose or damage medical equipment and wheelchairs.

It wasn’t until December 2018 that the U.S. Department of Transportation began requiring airlines to report the total number of enplaned scooters and wheelchairs as well as the total number of scooters and wheelchairs mishandled.

Now, the DOT’s data shows that for every 100 wheelchairs or scooters transported on domestic flights, at least one is damaged, delayed or lost.

In October 2024, the DOT announced a $50 million fine against American Airlines for mishandling thousands of wheelchairs and failing to offer prompt wheelchair assistance — along with various other “serious violations” documented between 2019 and 2023.

“These problems are not unique to American Airlines,” the DOT said in a statement. It noted that it currently has “active investigations” into similar violations at other U.S. airlines.

New federal rules designed to help

New federal rules, evolving airline programs and innovative technology may bring improvements.

In 2024 federal rules were set to go into effect that offer new protections for air travelers who use wheelchairs, though the government may not follow through under the incoming Trump administration.

This change sets standards for assistance and requires hands-on training for airline employees as well as any contractors who physically assist passengers with disabilities and handle passengers’ wheelchairs.

For example, the rule requires that airlines provide “prompt enplaning, deplaning, and connecting assistance” and return all checked wheelchairs and other assistive devices to passengers “in the condition in which they are received.”

Airlines must also notify passengers — before they deplane — whether their wheelchair or scooter has been unloaded from the cargo compartment; they must provide appropriate loaner equipment if a wheelchair or scooter is mishandled.

Airport- and airline-specific changes

On their own, airlines and airports have been making progress in serving passengers with a wide range of disabilities.

Indiana’s Fort Wayne International Airport (FWA) is determined to become the most accessible airport.

It incorporates universally “rolled” curbs to floor-level baggage scales, couches without armrests to better accommodate travelers with mobility issues, and a tactile cane trail with ribbed tiles that runs from the check-in counters through the security checkpoint to the gates.

In France and 20 other countries, Air France offers a “bespoke” program called Saphir to provide assistance to travelers with disabilities.

In 2023, United Airlines became the first airline to add Braille markings on aircraft rows and inside lavatories. The full mainline fleet should have Braille signage by 2026.

More than three dozen domestic airports offer sensory rooms where neurodivergent travelers and their families will find furnishings, interactive activities and, in some cases, real airplane cabin seats that can help alleviate preflight anxiety.

And the list keeps growing. George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in Houston opened its second sensory area in early November 2024, and San Francisco International Airport (SFO) opened its first sensory room in mid-December.

Airports are also adding hearing loops that allow travelers with hearing disabilities to connect their hearing aids to an airport public address system and improve access to announcements for gate changes, boarding and other flight information.

Many airports also offer access to Aira — an app that provides people who are blind or have low vision with a live visual interpreter to help them navigate their surroundings — for free.

Delta Air Lines’ Flight Product division is working on a prototype for seating that will allow passengers to use their own wheelchairs on a plane.

American Airlines and its subsidiary Envoy Air currently offer travelers the use of autonomous, self-driving wheelchairs from Whill at a growing list of international and domestic airports, The list includes Tokyo’s Haneda Airport (HND) and Narita International Airport (NRT), Miami International Airport (MIA), and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) is currently testing the wheelchairs, and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) is using them to supplement Alaska Airlines’ traditional, nonmotorized “pusher” wheelchair service.

Since August, more than 4,200 passengers at SEA have used autonomous wheelchairs, which drive themselves back to the base after delivering passengers to their gates.

Globally, air travel accessibility is getting attention as well. It was recently the topic of a symposium held by the International Civil Aviation Organization, Airports Council International and the International Air Transport Association.

“It is no secret that accessibility poses challenges for a significant number of our passengers who have disabilities,” IATA’s Director General Willie Walsh said in a statement. “Linking disparate approaches into a practical global outcome that will deliver for travelers without disappointment is the goal.”