Dear Colleagues,
If you are a person with reduced mobility or a person living with disabilities, you are entitled to certain rights that you should be aware of. Svayam occasionally come across incidents where people with reduced mobility, suffer at the hands of airliners and the aerodrome operators merely because of their ignorance about their rights and duties.
This post is an attempt to orient them and empower them with the information that they may need, to undertake a hassle free air-travel from and within India. The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights & Full Participation) Act 1995 & The Constitution of India provides equal rights to those living with disabilities or with reduced mobility while travelling – be it travel by road, rail or air and prohibits discrimination on the grounds of disabilities.
The Civil Aviation Requirements on Carriage of Persons with Disabilities & persons with reduced mobility by Air (DGCA’ s CAR) on which Svayam along with several other stakeholders had worked so hard, is an important document for all flyers with disabilities. Therefore, you should always carry a copy, may be few extra sets to waive at those who try to discriminate with you out of ignorance or just negative attitude. The CAR guidelines apply to all Indian operators – for both domestic & international carriage, to all foreign carriers operating to and from India and all airport operators within India. You can download a copy of the CAR from the link below:
DGCA’s CAR on Carriage by Air of Persons with Disabilities and/or Persons with Reduced Mobility dated 28 February 2014
Your Rights while traveling by Air
(a) No airline can refuse to carry you and your assistive aids/devices, escorts, guide dogs in cabin etc if you inform them at the time of booking. Assistive aids/devices (up to 15 kg) are allowed free as additional baggage.
(b) Airlines & their travel agents can not discriminate against you in providing their services such as internet ticket, special/discounted fare, reservation on telephone or time limit for holding the booking etc.
(c) You can seek assistance to meet your particular needs to ensure seamless travel from terminal departure gate up to aircraft and from aircraft to arrival terminal gate without any additional expense.
(d) If your wheelchair conforms to DPTAC UK specifications (Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee), you can user your wheelchair in the entire journey and can’t be forced to use their wheelchair.
(e) Airline can not insist on medical certificate or any special forms/ indemnity bonds etc even if you wish to travel without escort and only need assistance for embarking/disembarking & reasonable accommodation in flight.
(f) You have equal choice of seat allocation subject to safety requirements.
(g) You can ask for onboard narrow aisle chairs for internal transfer or to use lavatory at no extra cost.
Your Duties while traveling by Air
(a) Inform/ Notify the Airlines at the time of booking or at least 48 hours before the scheduled departure about your specific needs.
(b) Always carry your disability certificate/ ID Card.
(c) Carry an extra copy of the DGCA’s CAR.
(d) Ask for your rights, until you ask, the airline staff may not know about your requirements.
(e) Be courteous as the staff may be serving many other passengers at the same time.
(f) Speak up, if any discrimination happens with you and report it to concerned authorities viz. Grievance Redressal authority within Airlines, DGCA, Chief Commissioner-Disability and if required share the experiences also to the media/ advocacy organization like Svayam.
Post your experiences to Svayam
We encourage you to kindly post a copy of your grievances also with Svayam as it helps us take it forward with the concerned authorities. More the complaints brought to the notice of authorities, more the impact we can make on them. This will not only help them understand that it affects many more people but also find appropriate solutions. You may write to us at Editor@svayam.com / svayam.india@gmail.com and post the information also on our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/svayam.india
After you have posted to us, it may be seem that we are taking little longer, but trust us, we are working on the issue flagged by you. We will update the progress here on the blog for your information.
Inclusive and Barrier free infrastructure & services is important for equal participation of all and when you write to us, our endeavor is to make sure authorities sit up and take notice.
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