Current Rule
Air Travel Accessibility
The Department of Transportation (DOT) is proposing to require that many air travel websites, as well as automated airport check-in kiosks, be made accessible to people with disabilities. What should the standards for web and kiosk accessibility be? Which websites and how many kiosks should be covered? How long should companies have to make the changes? Data about the benefits, costs, and feasibility of these changes will be very important to DOT’s final decisions. Hide the issues -->
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Websites:
Accessibility standards (42 comments) -
Kiosks:
Accessibility standards (72 comments) -
Websites:
Benefits & costs of accessibility (15 comments) -
Kiosks:
Benefits & costs of accessibility (13 comments) -
Websites:
Which? What content? (7 comments) -
Websites:
Implementation when? (5 comments) -
Kiosks:
Which? When? (16 comments)
What's Happening Now
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Announcements
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Recommended
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Recent Comments
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January 11, 2012 - Final Summary for the Air Travel Accessibility Rule. The final summary has been posted and submitted to Regulations.gov. You can view the final summary by clicking on the links below:
Introduction
Websites: Accessibility standards
Kiosks: Accessibility standards
Websites: Benefits & costs of accessibility
Kiosks: Benefits & costs of accessibility
Websites: Which? What content?
Websites: Implementation when?
Kiosks: Which? When?January 3, 2012 – Draft summaries have been posted. Your help is needed to create a summary that fully and fairly reflects what people have said about the proposed rule. Please click the link below and read the draft summary prepared by the Regulation Room team. Add your comments if you think that something is missing, unclear, or wrong. Your comments will help make the final version of the summary as accurate and effective as possible.
Websites: Accessibility standards
Kiosks: Accessibility standards
Websites: Benefits & costs of accessibility
Kiosks: Benefits & costs of accessibility
Websites: Which? What content?
Websites: Implementation when?
Kiosks: Which? When?November 18, 2011 – Extension of closing date. The Department of Transportation is extending the closing date for interested persons to submit comments on the proposed accessibility of web sites and automated kiosks by 45 days from November 25, 2011, to January 9, 2012. In addition to extending the comment period, this notice responds to questions posed by the airline associations about certain aspects of the SNPRM. A copy of the notice is available under “what’s new” on airconsumer.dot.gov/, www.regulations.gov, and www.ofr.gov. It will be published in the Federal Register on Monday, November 21st.
September 19, 2011– What Is Your Stake in New Accessible Design Regulations? DOT is proposing to require that air travel websites and airport check-in kiosks to be accessible to people with disabilities. But what should the standards be? If you are a traveler with a disability (or a family member or friend), you can provide essential information about current problems with these websites and kiosks, and what changes are needed. If you are a web professional or specialist in accessible design, you can help DOT get the right answers to feasibility, timeframe, and verification questions. If you are an airport manager, you probably have something to say about cost and workability of proposed kiosk changes. If you are an OTA or other travel agent, your website could be affected. Learn about DOT’s proposals here. Join the discussion, and what you say will be part of a large public comment filed in this rulemaking.
August 23, 2011 – Expanded Airline Passenger Protections Take Effect
New consumer protections for airline passengers established by the U.S. Department of Transportation go into effect today, and will make flying more convenient and hassle-free for air travelers nationwide. The new consumer protections, finalized earlier this year, include requirements that airlines refund baggage fees if bags are lost, increase compensation provided to passengers bumped from oversold flights, and provide passengers greater protections from lengthy tarmac delays. Read more of the press release from DOT.
Performance standards are entirely appropriate. Design standards set minimum characteristics, but only actual usability standards can make sure that the sites actually work. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been working on performance standards for voting systems, so this could follow in their path. The challenge is creating an appropriate test that is neither too [...]
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It isn't statistics, but an example of 50 E-Retail sites jimthatcher.com/eretailers.htm. (a paper at last year's CSUN conference)
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Visual & Speech interfaces coordinate: It is very good that the provision requires that the speech output be coordinated with visual output for the very reasons mentioned. It should also be noted that many people who are legally blind can see, and the visual display can be helpful for them even if the text is too small to be read. A headphone jack would be better than a handset because a person m [...]
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Display This is a useful provision for people in wheelchairs and people with short stature. The intent of the provision is that people can read the display from a point 40 inches high, not simply view it. Revising the provision slightly, using the word "readable" instead of "visible" would make the intent clear.
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W3.org has some automated tests for accessability handling of web pages. It would be very useful to mandate the passage of these tests. Note, most of the current web sites fail the tests for stand [...]
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TTS is NOT equally effecitve for blind persons with High Functioning Autism, as it does not provide editing capabilities, and involves talking to a live person, which can be intimidating. It is als [...]
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The term “website” should include all web-based forms of electronic information technology and alternative versions of the information delivered on a website. For example, would an Apple iPhone o [...]
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the final regulations should explicitly prohibit use of conforming alternate versions of the primary website. History has proven that separate but equal is never an effective approach to public acces [...]
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Regardless of which standard is used, the standard should be linked to the current published version of the technical standards. Web design trends change faster than the federal regulatory process. [...]
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Learn More
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Past Rules
- Electronic On-Board Recorders Closed 5.23.11
- Airline Passenger Rights Closed 9.23.10
- Texting Closed 1.10.10
- Tire Efficiency Closed 12.13.09
to not consider usability when attending to these violations of federal law, we in essence lock doors of access to nearly 20 million individuals if we look at who it is that makes up the print disabled community. as a blind end user, to be precluded from independently accessing critical information to plan and arrange my travel is insulting and a violation of my civil liberties. in instances where [...]