Welcome to Disability Rights Advocates
The denial of full and equal access by airlines is a major impediment to the basic rights of people with disabilities to travel, work, and be part of mainstream society. While we are able to investigate access complaints in airports, DRA is not able to pursue cases against airlines for access barriers that occurred on an airplane. You may wish to contact your county bar association as well as local disability agencies (such as one of the ILCs at the Independent Living Centers website) for referrals. Below are three agencies that process complaints regarding airline access. Please be advised that all legal claims are subject to various statutes of limitations, so in order to preserve your claim, you would need to consult other lawyers.
The U.S. Department of Transportation Aviation Consumer Protection Division has a Toll-free hotline for airline disability-related problems: 1-800-778-4838 (Voice), 1-800-455-9880 TTY.
The Civil Rights Section of the FTA also collects complaints. To file a complaint with the FTA Office of Civil Rights you can visit the FTA website. Their address: Director, FTA Office of Civil Rights, 400 7th Street, S.W., Room 9102, Washington, D.C. 20590. The FTA Office of Civil Rights also has a hotline, 1-888-446-4511. You may wish to share a copy of your complaint with the airline.
PVA has been collecting complaints about air carrier discrimination, so you could contact them as well at: Paralyzed Veterans of America, 801 Eighteenth Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006-3517; PVA National Headquarters 1-800-424-8200.
