The UK government says flying with a wheelchair should get less stressful. On Monday, October 19, the Department for Transport backed a package of changes for disabled air passengers covering staff training, how mobility aids are handled, and how travelers share their needs before they fly. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said passengers must be able to fly “with dignity and peace of mind.”
The changes are being delivered by the Aviation Accessibility Implementation Group, a cross-industry body the department set up to act on recommendations from former Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, who led a review of aviation accessibility. The group includes airlines, airports, trade bodies, the Civil Aviation Authority and disability specialists, and it published its annual report the same day.
The numbers involved help to paint a clearer picture of why all of this matters so much. More than 1,000 wheelchairs were damaged in transit on UK flights in 2023, according to the government; that’s more than 80 every month. In a consultation last year, the CAA counted at least 1,217 damaged chairs out of roughly 283,000 carried by 13 major airlines, and said the true figure was probably higher.
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It’s important to start with training. New training for airline and airport staff is being developed with disabled passengers, so staff can recognize different needs without travelers having to explain their disability over and over. Anyone who has repeated their medical history to four different people between the check-in desk and the aircraft door will know why that can get very tiresome. It’s important to state, however, that there’s no roll-out date yet.
Then there’s mobility aids. Since March, passengers have been able to give airlines technical details about their wheelchair before they travel, including its battery and how it should be handled. The group’s report links this to the Flier Friendly Programme, an industry scheme in which wheelchair manufacturers commit to giving customers an air travel information pack; Sunrise Medical and eFOLDi were the first to sign up. The government also points to a new partnership between airlines, airports and manufacturers on carrying mobility aids safely, particularly those with lithium batteries. It hasn’t said who’s involved or when it will report back.
The third piece is a digital platform that would let passengers record their support needs before they fly; things like an electric buggy to the gate, a separate security lane, or a quiet place to wait before boarding. The government are calling it a trial. Read the group’s report, though, and it’s clearly early days. The proof of concept is still being scoped, the plan is to start with a single airport, airline and service provider, and the report itself says it’s not possible to predict how quickly things will move.
The part with real teeth sits in the Civil Aviation Bill, which has been working its way through Parliament since it was announced in the King’s Speech in May.
The Bill would give the regulator new powers to act faster and harder, including issuing fines, when airlines or airports don’t properly support disabled passengers. It would also remove the compensation cap for lost or damaged wheelchairs and mobility aids on domestic UK flights. And it commits the government to consult on a wider set of accessibility reforms within 12 months of the Bill becoming law.
Read that compensation line again. Domestic UK flights only.
That’s a genuine win for anyone flying, say, London to Edinburgh. But a lot of the damaged-chair stories our community shares involve international trips, and those fall under the Montreal Convention, a treaty the UK can’t rewrite on its own. Under Montreal, an airline’s liability for damaged checked items, wheelchairs included, is capped at 1,519 Special Drawing Rights unless you declare a higher value in advance. That’s a fraction of what many power chairs cost.
So for international flights, the advice hasn’t changed. Ask about making a special declaration of value when you check your chair, photograph it before you hand it over, and keep every piece of paperwork. Our guide on what to do if an airline damages your wheelchair walks through the rest.
A year ago, the CAA consulted on making airlines publish their wheelchair damage figures every quarter, broken down by airport. We covered it at the time, because it was the most useful accountability measure on the table. It would let disabled travelers see which airlines are actually improving, and book accordingly. The US has published airline-by-airline wheelchair mishandling figures for years.
Monday’s announcement doesn’t mention it. The group’s report says only that the CAA will publish a summary of the consultation responses, and its next steps, later this year.
That gap matters. The industry voices in the announcement lean on satisfaction figures; Airlines UK says 82% of passengers are satisfied with their air travel experience, and AirportsUK points to high satisfaction with airport assistance even as demand has doubled over the past decade. Those numbers are worth having. They just don’t tell a power chair user which airline is least likely to break their chair. Published damage data would.
The contrast is hard to miss. The UK is moving toward giving its regulator fining powers. The US Department of Transportation, meanwhile, has pushed back enforcement of several key parts of its own wheelchair rule until April 30, 2027 at the earliest, including the provisions on airline liability for mishandled wheelchairs. We’ve been tracking that delay since it started.
Neither country has solved this. Right now, though, the UK is the one moving forward.
Demand isn’t slowing down. Airlines UK says the number of passengers needing assistance is up nearly 10% on last year, which makes all of this more urgent, not less. The Civil Aviation Bill still has to finish its passage through Parliament, and the promised accessibility consultation must launch within 12 months of it becoming law.
Grey-Thompson, incidentally, isn’t only focused on planes. This week she’s in the House of Lords backing amendments to the Railways Bill that would require a 10-year rail accessibility strategy with measurable targets, and put legal duties on the railway to remove barriers. We’ll report back once the votes are in.
Have you flown in or out of the UK with a wheelchair this year? Tell us how it went in the Facebook community, or email us at hello@theworldisaccessible.com.
