Several UK airports announced a deal last week that will limit the abandonment and mistreatment of disabled passengers to no more than 2 hours per trip.
The UK Civil Aviation Authority sent a strongly worded letter to several airports and airlines earlier this year about the severe conditions many disabled travelers have found themselves in. There have been reports of grossly understaffed airports abandoning disabled travelers for hours upon hours on planes or in airports.
Last week, leaders from several major UK airports met in a closed-door session and held a press conference to announce revised plans.
The airports have agreed to hire at least one more employee per airport in order to deal with the influx of travelers. They will try to take passengers to the bathroom at least once during their visit to the airport and will limit the abandonment of disabled passengers to no more than two hours per trip.
As airport traffic has surged, airports have been caught flat-footed unable to sustain the influx of passengers with current staffing levels, having fired most of their staff during the worst of the Pandemic. As airports quietly admit they don't care about disabled travelers, people still want to travel and they have been treated badly.
disabled passengers will still have to crawl on and off the plane, and will have to get through customs on their own
Disabled advocacy groups largely cheered the move, although some expressed concern that it didn't go far enough, and that it would have been nicer if the airports would agree to buy a few more wheelchairs as well.
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